I got a text from my little sister, it was a picture mail of her baby boy Tani all cut up with a fat lip...and she said Grampa and Tani got into an accident on the four-wheeler and they were on the way to the ER.
I called around to see what happened, but nobody was answering their phones. Finally I got a hold of my older sister to see if she had heard anything, and she had talked to my mom for a few minutes before they went into the hospital and that my dad was cut up pretty badly and so was my nephew Tani. We decided we were going to drive down to the Provo hospital to see if they were ok.
I met my sister in Lehi and we headed down to Utah county....not knowing what really happened, or what to expect. When we got to the hospital, they took us back to the room where they were at and this is what we saw when we first walked in
My dad and Tani both got to share a room and my mom, my little sister and her husband, my Uncle Taniela and his daughter were all there....along with the nurses. My dad and little Tani were pretty out of it, but the rest of the family in the room explained what happened.
My dad was letting the kids take turns riding on the 4-wheeler, and it was Tani's turn to ride. They were just going down the street in front of their house and my dad noticed a car speeding up behind them and the car wasn't slowing down at all. In a panic, my dad went off the side of the road so the car wouldn't hit them, but they hit a pothole and went flying off the 4-wheeler. My dad's fatherly/grandfatherly instincts kicked in and immediately he went into survival mode and only thought of protecting little Tani. They were going fast enough when they hit the pothole that they were flown off the 4-wheeler straight towards a barbed wire fence. My dad cradeled Tani in his arm and took the full impact of the barbed wire on his arms. Once he hit the fence, with the fence spikes in his arms, he threw his arms out so Tani wouldn't get hit. The spikes from the fence tore my dad's arms from one side to the other. The strength of my dad's arms broke the fence and the end came flying back and hit little Tani in the face brusing his cheek, cutting up his face and neck...slicing his lip wide open and knocking out his front tooth. It was pretty traumatic.....and the thing that made it even worse was that the stupid car who caused this accident saw it happen but didn't even stop to see if they were ok, they just kept speeding on. >:-[
My little sister Marie (Tani's mom) was outside jumping on the trampoline with my other sister Leka and they kind of saw what happened, but not really. All they saw was a car speeding by and my dad and Tani flying in the air.....they thought the car had hit them. When Marie walked up to them she saw a lot of blood and screamed for someone to call 911. They did and the ambulance came and picked them up and took them to the hospital.
My dad had to get several running stitches down both of his arms because the cuts were just so deep. He kindof blacked out when it happened so they did x-rays and tests to make sure he was ok. The x-rays showed that there was significant bruising on his muscles, just from trying so hard to protect Tani.
Tani had to get several stitches in his upper lip and he lost his front tooth.
And they both were really really sore.
My dad is a hero! I have no doubt that he saved Tani's life that day. And he would do it again in a heartbeat for any of his grandkids. Seeing how deep and big the cuts are on my dad's arms, and imagining if those were on Tani's little body....things could have turned out so much worse if my dad didn't do what he did to protect him.
What a scary night for our whole family....but also a blessed night that they are ok.
To the car that was speeding and didn't even stop to see if the people you ran off the road were ok......we forgive you for what you did.....my dad was in a lot of pain for a long time, and you scared our whole entire family, but they are ok. Please SLOW DOWN and pay attention....we all got lucky this time, but if there's a next time, we may not be so lucky!
Thank you to all who have shown concern and prayed for them.....my dad is a tough man and he's ok. We appreciate all the love and prayers on his behalf!
I called around to see what happened, but nobody was answering their phones. Finally I got a hold of my older sister to see if she had heard anything, and she had talked to my mom for a few minutes before they went into the hospital and that my dad was cut up pretty badly and so was my nephew Tani. We decided we were going to drive down to the Provo hospital to see if they were ok.
I met my sister in Lehi and we headed down to Utah county....not knowing what really happened, or what to expect. When we got to the hospital, they took us back to the room where they were at and this is what we saw when we first walked in
My dad was letting the kids take turns riding on the 4-wheeler, and it was Tani's turn to ride. They were just going down the street in front of their house and my dad noticed a car speeding up behind them and the car wasn't slowing down at all. In a panic, my dad went off the side of the road so the car wouldn't hit them, but they hit a pothole and went flying off the 4-wheeler. My dad's fatherly/grandfatherly instincts kicked in and immediately he went into survival mode and only thought of protecting little Tani. They were going fast enough when they hit the pothole that they were flown off the 4-wheeler straight towards a barbed wire fence. My dad cradeled Tani in his arm and took the full impact of the barbed wire on his arms. Once he hit the fence, with the fence spikes in his arms, he threw his arms out so Tani wouldn't get hit. The spikes from the fence tore my dad's arms from one side to the other. The strength of my dad's arms broke the fence and the end came flying back and hit little Tani in the face brusing his cheek, cutting up his face and neck...slicing his lip wide open and knocking out his front tooth. It was pretty traumatic.....and the thing that made it even worse was that the stupid car who caused this accident saw it happen but didn't even stop to see if they were ok, they just kept speeding on. >:-[
My little sister Marie (Tani's mom) was outside jumping on the trampoline with my other sister Leka and they kind of saw what happened, but not really. All they saw was a car speeding by and my dad and Tani flying in the air.....they thought the car had hit them. When Marie walked up to them she saw a lot of blood and screamed for someone to call 911. They did and the ambulance came and picked them up and took them to the hospital.
My dad had to get several running stitches down both of his arms because the cuts were just so deep. He kindof blacked out when it happened so they did x-rays and tests to make sure he was ok. The x-rays showed that there was significant bruising on his muscles, just from trying so hard to protect Tani.
Tani had to get several stitches in his upper lip and he lost his front tooth.
And they both were really really sore.
My dad is a hero! I have no doubt that he saved Tani's life that day. And he would do it again in a heartbeat for any of his grandkids. Seeing how deep and big the cuts are on my dad's arms, and imagining if those were on Tani's little body....things could have turned out so much worse if my dad didn't do what he did to protect him.
What a scary night for our whole family....but also a blessed night that they are ok.
To the car that was speeding and didn't even stop to see if the people you ran off the road were ok......we forgive you for what you did.....my dad was in a lot of pain for a long time, and you scared our whole entire family, but they are ok. Please SLOW DOWN and pay attention....we all got lucky this time, but if there's a next time, we may not be so lucky!
Thank you to all who have shown concern and prayed for them.....my dad is a tough man and he's ok. We appreciate all the love and prayers on his behalf!
3 comments:
wow!! that is terrible that they didn't even stop when they saw that they had caused an accident!! our thoughts and prayers are with them for a speedy recovery:)
So sorry to hear about what happened. I am so glad that they are okay. That would be one of the scariest calls I think, not really knowing what happened.
I haven't read your blog for almost a week and I look on and wow, you really updated. Looks like football camp is fun for your boys.
Katea, way to go girl! She is growing so fast. She is coming up on a year isn't she? Ellie will be a year on Sunday. I can't believe how fast the time flys.
Sure love ya! Have a great week!
So glad they are ok! My friends said your Dad is their Stake Pres and how much they love and admire him:) Just hearing and reading about him I can see what a wonderful man he is.
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