Holiday Tragedy--How You Can Help

Our late pastor, Dr. Howard Olds, who passed away this summer from cancer, always said, "We live in a broken world." What he meant was, we don't live in perfection. We live in a place where bad things happen...even to the most faithful and even to those who are innocent. I believe, while God doesn't always stop bad things from happening in our broken world, He does often times give ordinary people the opportunity be an extraordinary blessing to those who need it most. God has amazing timing and a way of making paths cross.

This past weekend my sister (Chelsea) and her boyfriend (Brian) crossed paths with two young men in a despearate situtation and a family coping with the circumstances. Chelsea is now asking for your help for this family. I hope you'll read Chelsea's account of the events below and prayerfully consider her request. We can all be an EXTRAORDINARY blessing to this family.

Even if you're unable to give blood, please post a link from your blog to this post. Anyone in Texas can help!

On Sunday morning as Brian and I were driving home from Lubbock we came up on a single car accident. We arrived on the scene at the same time as another vehicle, the man in the other car is named Matt and he is a soldier stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso . We were heading East and Matt was heading West.

We arrived to a blazing fire and as we were running down the hill dialing 911 a teenage boy (Tyler) came out of the car on fire. Matt who was very close to the accident was able to get Tyler rolled on the ground and get him out of his shirt which had been on fire. Tyler was yelling that his brother was in the car, but the flames were so large that there was nothing anyone could do to help his brother Tanner. Brian and Matt and some other very nice folks were able to get Tyler calm and on the ground. Two nurses and a medical assistant stopped and were able to attend to Tyler until the ambulance arrived.

Tyler asked that his mom be called so Brian called his mom to tell her that Tyler had been in an accident. About that time the wind shifted and Tyler needed to be moved out of the smoke so Brian handed me the phone to talk to Tyler’s mother and he helped the other people move Tyler. As the events unfolded I spent about an hour talking to the mother relaying information about what was happening at the scene as her and her husband drove toward the accident. It was heartbreaking to hear the panic in the voice of a mother as her 14 year old son died and her 18 year old son was seriously injured.

Tyler was airlifted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas where he is undergoing treatment in the burn unit. On Monday, Tyler’s mother Lori called to update us on Tyler’s condition and asked if we would come and meet them. So last night Brian and I went to Parkland and met Tyler’s parents and family. Because there were no true witnesses to how the accident happened they asked us some questions about what we saw and were very gracious for us stopping and doing our best to help. We were able to fill them in about all of the wonderful people that stopped and helped their son. They were very sweet people and they are really struggling. They are planning a funeral for their youngest son and praying for the best case scenario for their oldest son. Tyler is expected to make it through but there are many months of hospitalization left and numerous surgeries and skin grafts needed. There is also a possibility that Tyler may lose his hands if things don’t go perfectly.

When we were talking with the family they said that what they needed most were prayers and blood donations. This is where I ask you to help.

The doctors are concerned about the blood situation because it is the holidays and blood donations are usually lower during the holiday season. There are things that can be done, however. For every person that gives blood (regardless of blood type) and uses the sponsorship number that I give you then Tyler is guaranteed a pint of blood from the blood bank when he needs it. I hope if you are eligible to give blood you will consider helping Tyler . Below is the information that you need for Carter Blood Care (the donations must be through Carter Blood Care):

Carter Blood Care
SPON047291
http://www.carterbloodcare.org/donorcenter.aspx
(in case you need help finding where you can go to donate, visit the CBC website)

I hope you will consider donating blood and that you will keep Tyler and his family in your prayers.

Chelsea

I feel God put Chelsea, Brian and Matt at the scene for a reason. The mother lives in Midland, the accident happened near Roscoe, and yet, Chelsea and Brian each live just a couple of miles from the hospital caring for one of these young boys. I don't think that was by accident.

If you'd like to leave Chelsea or Brian a note, please feel free to use the comments section on this post...they read them all!

Counting my blessings--both received and able to give,


Click here to read a news article about the event.

Another article.