My Best Friend Bonnie

Thursday night we recieved some frightening news. My best friend Bonnie had a terrible accident while hiking in Akron, Ohio with her husband, Steven. She fell 30-50 feet from a cliff, tumbling to the bottom and breaking her right arm and shoulder and leg, shattering her right elbow, breaking her left wrist, and dislocating her left ring finger. She was transported to the hospital after the paramedics spent an hour to carefully get to where she had landed.

Jadie and I recieved a phone call at 10:00pm Thursday night from Karrie, Bonnie sister. She tried to tell us the news, but ended up passing the phone to her husband. After Jadie hung up the phone, he told me the news and then began calling other friends so they could start praying. At about 10:30pm, we began making plans to drive the 20 hours to Ohio. We hit the road by midnight.

When we reached Steven and Bonnie's townhouse, it was 1:00 am Saturday morning, so we hit the sack. We went to see Bonnie in the ICU at 10:30am, trying to prepare ourselves as much as possible before we went in to see her. When we walked in, she was sedated and had tubes coming from her mouth. Her right arm was bandaged from shoulder to wrist, with pins and stabilizing aparatus holding the larger bones in her elbow and shoulder in place. She was wearing a neck brace and had a bandage on her chin and a gash on her forehead. Needless to say, it was difficult to see considering how much she means to us. We continued to visit her throughout the day, her condition remaining much the same. She was making improvements in her breathing, initiating 11 out of 12 breaths per minute on her own. She was able to respond to small requests for her to move her thumb or nod her head.

We had to drive back to Waco Sunday morning in order to be back at work by Tuesday, so Jadie, Karrie, and I got home to Waco around 2:00pm Monday afternoon. I wanted to make sure to include the newest AMAZING information about what's going on with Bonnie. I am totally elated after our last phone coversation with Steven at about 1:30pm today.

The hospital has taken out Bonnie's breathing tube and taken her off of the sedation. She was able to say "I love you" to Stephen. She was worried about his sprained ankle! She recognized her parents (Sally and Jerry), her brother (Terry), her sister (Katrina), and our pastor (Roger). Terry even made Bonnie laugh a little. Jadie, Karrie, and I are so glad to hear about all of these incredible improvements, but a little sad that we weren't able to be there to see them for ourselves.

Please continue to pray for Bonnie and her family; there is still a long road to recovery ahead. She will have a 4-hour reconstructive surgery on her right elbow this Wednesday. Praise God that her 2nd CAT Scan came back looking perfect and that her lungs are healing quickly. She is breathing completely on her own now. Praise Him that most of what she's dealing with now is broken bones and that her family can be there with her.