It was a dreary day on January 11th, 2014. I had just gotten off work at Chet’s and decided to step over into Ellie’s for a cappuccino. It was around four o’clock in the afternoon; my sister had been working at Ellie’s. I went in and ordered my drink, and then I sat down to talk for a while. As I was finishing, I said goodbye to my sister and the few others I had been talking too. I threw the Styrofoam cup in the garbage, and the bells jingled as I walked out the door. As I walked to my car—which I was actually borrowing from my dad—someone called my name. We conversed for a minute or two, and then as we went our separate ways, they shouted to me, “Drive safe!”

I responded to them, “You too!” I arrived at my car, flung the door open, and climbed in with the door slamming behind me. I put the key in the ignition, turned it, and the engine roared to life. I pulled my seat belt over me with a whirr and a click. After putting the car in gear, I drove out on to Main Street.

I headed west out of Amery, driving by the rolling hills of the golf course and past the neon sign of Amery’s Free Lutheran Church. The time was then about five in the afternoon and I was turning onto County Road K, otherwise known as 60th Avenue. I turned onto K and accelerated to 55 miles per hour. As I drew near to the curve in front of Deronda Farms, I slowed to a steady 35 miles per hour. Believing the roads were clear, I had no worries of ice and didn’t even let the thought of an icy patch slip into my mind. I came around the curve and let my foot sink down on the gas pedal a little more. As I started to gain a little more speed, the trunk of the car began to fishtail. I went into a deep state of fear, thinking about all the outcomes of the situation.

I thought to myself, “Am I going to die? What if I am badly injured and can never walk again?” All of these questions and more ran through my head as I tried to keep the car on the road. I careened back to the right side, and the world became a blur as the car spun. Before I realized what was happening, snow started slamming into the windshield, and I heard a loud crash. I could hardly breathe and had a stabbing pain in my left side.

I looked to my left, and just about five inches from my nose was a pine tree. The window had shattered, and the side airbag to my left had released. When I realized what had just happened, I pulled out my phone out of my coat pocket and dialed 9-1-1. A woman picked up at the other end, “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

“I have been in an accident,“ I said in a terrified voice.

“What is your name sir?”

“K-Kyle,” I say. My voice was weak because of the sharp pain in my ribs.

“Okay Kyle, what is your location?”

“Near Deronda Farms,” By this time two men had stopped at the scene; one was a first responder, and the other happened to be passing by when he noticed the accident.

“Are you all right?” I looked in my left mirror and saw a man walking down to the car.

“Yeah, I th-think s-so,” I answered in a wobbly voice.

“Okay, I am a first responder. Unbuckle your seat belt; it may be constricting your breathing,” I reached over and clicked back the seat belt.

“Kyle, are you still on the line?” said the 9-1-1 operator.

“Yes, th-there is a first responder here,” I answer.

“Okay, the ambulance is about two minutes away, hold on,” I began to hear the sirens in the distance.

“What’s your name?” asked the first responder.

“K-Kyle,”

“Kyle, I need you to take slow, deep breaths. The ambulance is almost here,” Trying to calm myself; I slowed my breathing a little bit. The other man asks if he needed to call anyone for me. I gave him my home phone number, so that he could call my parents. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later, and I told the operator on the phone.

“Okay, I am going to hang up now Kyle,”


“All right,” I answered weakly.

Since the driver’s side of the car was pinned against a tree, the EMTs reclined the driver’s seat and lifted me onto a board. They then pulled me out of the back passenger’s side. When they lifted me onto the board, the pain was excruciating. My breathing became faster and more painful.
As they pulled me out I saw my parents standing at the scene. Worries ran through my mind of how mad they would be that I crashed my father’s car. Of course it was silly to think that all they would worry about was the car when I had just had the worst experience of my—and probably their—life. The EMTs lifted me onto a gurney, and then I was strapped up and rolled into the back of the ambulance. As we pulled away, the EMT that was sitting in the back with me asked what my name was.

“Kyle,” I said.

“All right then Kyle; do you think it would be easier to breathe if I gave you an oxygen tube?”

“Yeah, I think so.” He pulled a tube around my ears and onto my nose.

“Okay Kyle, hold on and we will be at the hospital in just a few minutes”

When we arrived at the hospital I was rolled in and immediately poked with all kinds of needles. A nurse pushed me over into a small area with a curtain around it. I then saw my parents come rushing in. They started asking me what happened, and if I’m okay, all the things a worried parent might say. A doctor rolled in a machine and said that they are going to take a portable x-ray. They put a lead apron on me to protect from the radiation. The machine made a little bit of noise, and then they started to process the x-ray. A few minutes later the results came back. I had one broken rib on my left side, my left lung was punctured and had collapsed, and there was also a laceration on my spleen.

After finding this out I was kind of scared, “a punctured lung? How will that heal?” They came in with some small supplies for surgery.

“Okay Kyle, I am going to put a chest tube in you to help re-inflate your lung. The nurse is going to give you some medicine. You won’t feel anything or remember much of the procedure.” said the doctor.

“Okay,” I answered back. The nurse gave me a shot, and I phased out for a bit. A few minutes later, I woke up and there was a tube in the left side of my chest, I found it to be a little easier to breathe then. The doctor told me that I had to be air lifted to Region’s Hospital because of the laceration in my spleen.

“It probably will be fine,” he said, “but better safe than sorry.” About fifteen minutes later, they bundled me up and strapped me to a gurney. I was rolled out to the helipad, where I was put in the back of a very cramped helicopter. They put some ear muffs over my head to protect my ears from the noise of the helicopter. For about twenty minutes, I stared at the ceiling of the helicopter. When we arrived at Region’s I was rolled into a busy emergency room and put into a small curtained space. A nurse came in and hooked me up to an IV. I had been laying there for about an hour when my parents came in. For another hour or so, we stayed in the emergency room, needles being poked at me and my vitals being checked. Then I was brought up to the eleventh floor to my hospital room; the time was probably about midnight.

The rest of the time at the hospital was a blur. The first night I only got about an hour of sleep because they had to be checking my vitals and taking tests the whole time. The next couple of days, family came in and visited. Everyone brought gifts and get well cards. On the Tuesday before I got out of the hospital, they took the tube out of my chest. The pain in my side was much relieved. I started to go for small walks, and my breathing became easier with every step. On Wednesday, they took my vitals once more and all was well. By about noon I was released, and I finally got to go home and get a good night’s sleep with no interruptions.

It was a great relief to know that none of my injuries would have long term effects, and that only four nights in the hospital were needed. There is nothing in this world that would make me want to go through this experience again. I cannot fathom how painful it must be for the families that lose their loved ones in accidents like these. Next time you get stuck in traffic because of a car accident, don’t get mad. Those people could be seriously or even fatally injured. If anything, it would be best to say a little prayer for their safety. We think about these as small things in our lives and sometimes even joke about it; but the first time you go through an experience like the one I went through, it will change your whole perspective on life.