Heather



"Came to my rescue."

July 5th 2007 I stopped at the intersection of a minor road waiting to cross a major highway (four lanes plus two turning lanes) on my way home from work. There was a gap in the five O’clock work traffic and I took it misjudging the timing of the oncoming vehicles. All I saw was a black blur just before my vehicle, a Ford F150 work truck, was hit on the passenger side. The glass shattered as I was thrown head first across the seat and through the passenger window screaming, “JESUS! JESUS! I NEED YOU!” The world seemed to stop for a moment as I lay face down on the pavement repeating over and over again Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I was lying on my belly with my left cheek pressed against the pavement and my right arm stretched out above my head. I thought, ‘I need to move,’ but I felt heavy and weighed down so I remained still, something hit my lower body (I was told by the Police that several witnesses said the truck drove over me twice). Next, a man ran up to me and knelt down saying, “are you ok? I can’t believe you’re alive, your one lucky lady!” Still lying unmoving on the ground, I replied, “my God was with me.” Another man came asking who he should call then the ambulance and paramedics arrived. At once all the noise came in and I felt excruciating pain throughout my body but focused specifically in my neck. They put me in a neck brace and transported me to the nearest hospital where they found the top vertebra of my neck (Cervical one) was broken; fractured in two places completely through but non-displaced. When the C1 or C2 vertebra are broken if the bone moves even the slightest fraction a person’s respiratory drive is cut off causing immediate death. Mine was fractured twice and I was driven over but the bones did not move! 

The estimated speed of the vehicle which hit me was somewhere around 55 miles per hour. The undercarriage of my truck was bent and the vehicle was in the shape of a V. The driver of the other vehicle (another F150 truck) was uninjured though her truck was totaled. The accident took place on a busy highway yet no other cars were involved. 

I suffered from two fractures on my C1, a one inch surface cut to the back of my head, minor cuts and bruises on my shoulders and arms, one scratch on my right ankle and some minor bruises to the ribs. Though I was lying face down on the pavement I did not have even one scratch or bruise to my face- NOT ONE! There were no tire marks on my body though witnesses told us that I was driven over twice and I felt something hit me. I was transported by air ambulance to a larger hospital in a different city but released only four days later. I spent two months at home with a hospital bed and nine months wearing a neck brace. Two year later I was able to graduate from nursing school with a clean bill of health. 

When I remember the accident the picture I see every time is me lying face down on the pavement, exactly as I remember it, however I see a big man lying on top of me holding me. He has an arm around my face and an arm around my waist. I believe this picture is not just my imagination. I believe Jesus answered my prayer and came to my rescue. He held me and that is why I am alive today and my face bears no scars. Forever, I will love him. Forever, I will trust him. He held me and He never let me go. 

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”