Jennifer Visit
There are a few pictures below from a visit we had from Jennifer and her mother, Bev and father, Randy. We knew Jennifer for weeks before she ever knew us.
You see Jennifer was injured in an auto accident the same day as Ashleigh was and was in an ICU room down the hall from us in a coma. Ashleigh and Jennifer both suffered brain injuries and their recovery was following a similar path.
Jennifer’s car hit a tree in the early morning as she was headed back home. She suffered a severe brain injury. Ashleigh’s brain injury brought us to the hospital some eight hours later.
Jennifer and her family continue to pray for Ashleigh and still call and come to visit her. They live over an hour away but still make the trip to see us. We appreciate their concern and commitment so much.
We bonded with Jennifer’s family as both of our families were living in the ICU worrying if our daughters were going to live or die. Jennifer’s constant companions were her parents, her brother, and her boyfriend. We all became friends and tried to help each other.
It was very helpful for us to compare notes and learn from each other as we struggled with coping with this terrible situation. To show you how fickle brain injuries are, Jennifer seemed more seriously injured in the early phases. Ashleigh was showing more early movements and had less severe side effects such as the neuro storms and foot drop. However, Jennifer has since recovered many more of her abilities and is doing fantastic. She is still working hard on her recovery and is trying to overcome some continuing issues. We are so happy for her and her family. She is the sweetest girl you could ever meet.
An example of their kindness was when we had to attend our niece Celeste’s graduation and Jennifer’s family was kind of enough to care for our son while we spent a couple of hours away from the hospital. When we got back, our son jokingly gave us grief and said that Jennifer’s parents even brought in pizza while we always make him eat in the hospital cafeteria.
