Chapter
1

On July 9th, 1998, your mother and I left our house on Military Road at about 3:45 am. I had to be at work in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, to be the ER doctor at Gary Memorial Hospital at 6 am. As we rushed out that day, your mom told me to make sure to kiss Jackson goodbye before I left. She said that he was awake and asked for me to do that before we left. As I approached his room, his back was turned to me, and his head was laying softly on the pillow. I told myself that I should not disturb his rest, so I passed on kissing him before I left. I then rushed past his room and out of the house. We handed the kids over to Niki’s (our nanny’s) control and headed off to work. Your mom dropped me off at the hospital, and then she headed off to work herself. Your mom was a consultant pharmacist whose job it was to review the drugs that patients were prescribed in nursing homes throughout Louisiana. Some of those nursing homes were closer to Breaux Bridge than they were to Covington. As I cared for patients in the ER at the Gary, your mom spent the day consulting at nursing homes throughout central and southern Louisiana. My shift was 24 hours long, so when your mom’s day was done on the 9th, she would return to the hospital’s call room to sleep at the hospital with me. After my ER shift was over at 6 am on July 10th, I did my second job as an anesthesiologist at that same hospital. The cases that day were typical, light, and easy. As I recall, they would have been simple tonsillectomies. Your mom had a few more nursing homes to do on the 10th as I was working in the OR. Around noon, the surgeries were complete and your mom’s consulting work was complete. We left Breaux Bridge around noon and headed home for Covington. The traffic from Breaux Bridge to Covington was unpredictable due mostly to build ups that would occur as we passed through Baton Rouge. Our plan was that your mom and I would pick Jackson and Alex up at the Cedarwood summer camp that ended at about 3:30 pm. We told Niki to be our back up to pick them up if traffic slowed us down. Well traffic did slow us down, and we arrived back at the Covington house after Niki had already left to pick Jackson and Alex up.

 

As we settled into the house that afternoon, your mom headed to take a shower. I was working on some billing paperwork to be able to charge for the anesthesia services that I had performed that day. At that time, we had one land line phone line. Once I completed the anesthesia billing paperwork, I unplugged our regular telephone and plugged in our fax machine to the land line. I began to fax over the paperwork. About halfway through the fax, there was an incoming call trying to come in on that same line. Because we had a service called “call waiting,” the incoming call kept messing up my fax transmission. I was unable to pick up the incoming call, until the fax transmission was complete. This happened several times. I remember thinking to myself, “I wish the person trying to call in would just realize I can’t answer the phone and stop trying to call!”

 

Eventually, the incoming calls did stop. I was in my office next to the fax machine watching the last pages of the fax going through the machine as I caught the sight of a stranger’s car speeding into our yard and down our long driveway. It was a young man that I had never met before. He jumped out of his car and ran to the front door. I left the fax machine and headed to meet him at the front door.

 

As I opened the door, there were no introductions.

 

He simply said, “There’s been a terrible accident. You need to come right away.”

 

I don’t remember him saying anything about who was in the accident. He just said it’s right down the road on Military Road and it is very bad. Somehow I knew it involved Niki and the kids.

 

I turned around briefly to grab the keys to one of our cars. I then screamed as loud as I could up to your mother. “Elna!!!!!!” She came running to the stairs half undressed. I said that there’s been a terrible accident involving the kids, and I’m going to run to it now.

 

As I headed out of the driveway and toward the accident it didn’t take long before the traffic was stopped on Military Road. I knew it was because of the accident, so I drove along the shoulder of the road passing the other cars until I got to where there were sheriff cars and ambulances. I then parked my car on the side of the road and ran the rest of the way.

 

I was still wearing my scrubs from being a doctor earlier in the day. As I approached the scene of the accident it was pure chaos. It was mind numbingly loud with every possible sound. Sirens, horns, engines, and people shouting orders and commands. As I approached, I saw Niki laying on a stretcher being immobilized. I also saw Alex being held by an EMT. Alex was straddling his hip as he stood in the chaos. I ran to Alex. Alex and I reached for each other, and I took her into my arms. As I did this the EMT that had been holding her looked at me dumbfounded. I was wearing my scrubs so for an instant I think he may have been wondering if I was medical personnel trying to help. I said to him, “I’m her father. She is my daughter. Where is my son?”

 

At this moment, you could hear a pin drop.

 

The EMT said, “What did you say?”

 

I said, “She is my daughter?,” and more sternly this time I said, “ WHERE IS MY SON?”

 

No one said anything. Silence came to the scene. No more noise. No more horns. No more sirens.

 

Everyone there stared at me and then simply looked into the woods.

 

What I had not yet noticed was that our Suburban had plunged into the thick forest and created a one lane path the size of the Suburban deep into the woods. Even though you could not see the Suburban from that vantage point, everyone began staring at the path.

 

I handed Alex back to the EMT, and I then ran down the path headed towards the Suburban. When I approached the truck, it was engulfed in thick briars and heavy bush. I ran to Jackson’s side of the truck, but I couldn’t make it through the thick brush on my first attempt. I then went to Alex’s side. Her side was already open, and her car seat was in its proper place. Even though Jackson and Alex had been sitting in their car seats only a couple of feet apart in the back seat of the Suburban, you could not see Jackson’s body from Alex’s seat. As the truck had left the road, it had plunged head on into a ditch as it left the road. This had caused the Suburban to roll end over end. On one of its flips, the top of the Suburban landed on top of a heavy brick column from an old fence. This column had punched the roof between where Alex and Jackson were sitting in the back seat.

 

There was absolutely no way that I was going to get to Jackson from Alex’s side of the car. Therefore, I went back to Jackson’s side and burrowed my way through the heavy brush and made it to his body. There he was handsome as ever. He was sitting in his car seat looking like he had just decided to take a nap after eating a huge tub of ice cream while on a long car ride.

 

My doctor side kicked in. I did a quick assessment. His left hand was wedged in between the side of the car seat and the place where the roof had come down. The roof was pinning his left hand in place, and his hand and wrist looked broken. As I went to touch him, there was one person there and he spoke to me. I have no idea if it was an EMT or an angel, but someone tenderly said, “Please. Please don’t touch him.”

 

I said, “We have to touch him. He may have broken his wrist?”

 

I then went to cradle his neck and head to secure them so that he would not suffer any spinal cord problems.

 

That’s when reality hit me.

 

As I touched the back of his head. I touched his brain.

 

My son was gone.

 

Suddenly an emptiness and a void filled my chest. It was more than just the feeling of the air getting knocked out of me. It was more like a ventricle of my heart was suddenly removed from me as I stood there wide awake.

 

I stood there with my hand on Jackson’s head, and I began to sob the most heart wrenching tears I’ve ever had. My eyes closed and my neck collapsed.

 

The man that was there who was either an EMT or an angel said to me in the most tender voice, “Remember your daughter.”

 

At that my head popped up, my tears stopped flowing, and I sucked a huge gasp of air into my lungs.

 

I then removed my grasp from Jackson’s former body and began to run out of the woods.

 

As I was running out of the woods. Elna was running in.

 

We held each other tightly. I told her that Jackson was no longer on this Earth. However, Alex was here, and she needed us more than ever.

 

(That’s all I can take today)

 

 

Mark 9:14-29 New International Version

14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.

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