My Story

On July 17, 2005, Samuel turned 2 years old! As we celebrated his birthday, he was so cute about opening his presents and blowing out the candles - twice! His favorite gift was a little 4-wheeler that he could ride and operate by pressing a little button. He rode it back and forth across the front room. Everyone commented on how coordinated he was and how well he was talking for just being 2 years old. He was smiling and happy most of the time and was certainly a joy in our lives. That night as I tucked him in bed, I patted his head and turned to walk out the door when for the first time, I heard his little voice say, “Kisses?” I turned back around and asked him if he wanted a kiss. He said, “Yea!” in his sweet little voice, so I bent over and kissed his little puckered lips. As I turned to walk out the door, I remember thinking that was the cutest thing I had ever seen!

July 19, 2005, started out as a typical day. We were getting ready for a family vacation and spent most of the day packing and arranging things for it. Samuel was wearing a new little birthday outfit and spent most of the day with me, his mom. When it came time for one of the older boys to be picked up from soccer, I lifted Samuel in my arms and headed out the door. He had been a real pain on the way to take the older boy to soccer, so I was debating leaving him home with his dad on this trip. As we walked down the steps, he said, “Eat?” I asked him if he was hungry and he said he was, so I set him up at the counter to eat some watermelon and asked my husband if Samuel could stay.The practice, of course, ran late. I debated just pulling my son off the field so I could get home sooner. I also debated calling home to let them know I would be late. In the end, I ran to the store to get some milk and got back right as practice was ending. As my son and I drove home, we passed an ambulance on the 4 lane highway. I commented that I should have pulled over faster even though the ambulance was headed the other way on the highway. I had no inkling that the ambulance contained my youngest son fighting for his life.

A few moments later, I received a call from the Cache County Sheriff’s Department. They told me that Samuel had fallen in a canal near our home. I asked every questions I could think of in that moment of panic and they would not answer any of them. They just kept saying they did not know and I should head to the hospital. I finally asked them who had found Samuel and they said a highway patrolman. At that point, I knew he had been in the water too long and there was a good chance he was gone. I later found out that the highway patrolman had gone home that night and sat in the car devastated as he filled out a report on a 2 year old boy who had drowned in the Paradise canal. He did not know that Samuel had survived and did not believe he possibly could have. And he had little children of his own and could not get the sight of Samuel’s lifeless little body out of his mind.

In the end, it’s hard to piece together what actually happened.  It appears that Samuel and 5 year old brother were riding bikes together with their 9 year old brother and their Dad, Tom, very close.  For some reason, the two boys on bikes turned off the driveway and rode down into a patch of dirt near the canal. Samuel got off his bike and then came to get back on and when he did, his bike tipped and he tumbled down into the canal. Samuel’s brother started screaming and his dad came running, but because of the force of the water in the canal, Samuel was gone from sight in an instant.

Samuel went through 2 underpasses and nearly 2 blocks of the canal before his socks got caught on some branches and debris and stopped him. His body was hidden about a foot under the merky water. His dad searched and searched the first block of the canal thinking that Samuel had to be somewhere there. A neighbor called 911. The EMT’s and fire department all searched also. The highway patrolman that found Samuel made a 20 minute drive to our home in 9 minutes when he received the call. He jumped out of his car, walked down to the edge of the canal, and felt impressed to look beneath the debris where Samuel was found. We estimate that Samuel spent 15 or more minutes in the water and when he reached the ambulance, he had no pulse and was not breathing.

Six doses of medication to stimulate his heart and 40 minutes of CPR were performed before his heart began to beat again. It was another 16 hours before he would breathe on his own. He was life flighted to the nearest children’s hospital where we were told he would not make it through the night and if he did, he would most certainly be a vegetable. So when he opened his eyes the next day, we thought we were out of the woods. But the brain damage continued to occur for days after the accident and the abilities he did have the morning after quickly disappeared and were replaced by intense and painful muscle spasms and seizures caused by the disruption to his brain.

The first 2 months were nearly unbearable. The next 4 were difficult to say the least. And then 6 months after the accident, Samuel smiled at us and although nothing would even be the same, it became do-able. Samuel now has cerebral palsy caused by brain damage due to a lack of oxygen. He can no longer talk, crawl, walk or eat by mouth. He literally has no form of communication with us except his smile. He has learned to roll and he is struggling so hard to learn to crawl. We do believe with all our hearts that he will someday be made well and whole again. But we also understand that it will not come quickly and, if nothing else, we are required to learn patience through this trial.  We also hold that it is very possible that his healing won’t come in this life, but will come in the next.Samuel has taught us more in his few years of life than we have learned in all of ours. He has taught us to take nothing for granted. He has taught us that the sweetest spirits often come in imperfect packages. He has taught us determination and motivation. And he has taught us that God can get us through ANYTHING. We have learned that most everything in this world is of little consequence and that it is the people you love that really matter the most. We love Samuel with all our hearts and are determined to do all we can to make his life a happy one. From the time he was a baby, I always had a saying that if I was having a bad day, just 5 minutes with “the baby” would make it all right. That saying is more true now than ever before. Five minutes with Samuel can make any problem seem silly and can make heartache go away. He is an angel in our midst and we are grateful for the chance to learn from him and to God for trusting us with him.

At the same time, we hope that by reading this story you will realize that there is a place between waking up well from a brain injury and dying from one. And that place is not an easy place to be. It comes with a lifetime of difficulty and heartache as you watch your loved ones suffer through things that seem entirely unfair. ALWAYS remember how a brain injury can change your life - whether it be an anoxic brain in jury or a head injury sustained in car accidents or from not wearing a helmet while riding a bike or 4-wheeler or motorcycle or snowmobile. It can be caused by drugs or heart attacks. And it is important for all of us to know CPR so we can help prevent or at least diminish the amount of brain injury caused by such things. If you’re going to be reckless, break your arm or your leg or your ankle or something. But DON’T injure your brain!And, as always, keep praying for our little guy!

Love,
The Jewkes