Final Chapter

The early years of the 80's were times of healing and growing. Our oldest son Jim had been a senior in high school when Sharon was injured. Her accident affected him greatly. I believe he felt guilty because he hadn't picked her up from school on that February day. Looking back I wish I had been more sensitive to his feelings and how his sister's condition had touched him. Kellee was away at Geneva College and she had received news through a memo on the bulletin board that her brother had called. Their thoughts are recorded, {I believe on their blogs} if you care to read how the news of Sharon's accident affected them. Our family consisted of 4 children, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. We cared about each other and this accident touched everyone in different ways. So many people reached out to us through prayer, acts of kindness, food, babysitting, phone calls and gifts. During the middle of the 80's, our 2 oldest children were married. Kellee met her husband Kirk while teaching school in Haiti and Jim met Val while at Geneva College. Our first and second grandchildren were born in short order in 1986 & 87. In 1987, Sharon met John Schwab while we attended Faith Bible Church. John showed an interest in Sharon by asking us if he could take her to some concerts at Washington Bible College. Of course we said that she could go with him as we knew him to be a good man and we thought that Sharon would love to get out. This became a regular occurance. Sometimes, John would take her out to eat, other times to various functions around town. As time went on we began to see that Sharon seemed to really like John and we wondered if John was just being kind to her or was there something else going on? So, we did the natural thing and asked John what were his intentions? We didn't want our daughter to be emotionally hurt if what she was feeling was not reciprocated. I hope John didn't mind us being so forward but we had to protect Sharon!! John reassured us that he also felt something more that just a friendship for Sharon. A few months later John asked us if he could marry Sharon!! They were married the end of April 1988 and this past year they celebrated 20 years of marriage. There is much more to the story of how Sharon's life has played out but then, everyone who knows the Lord has a story of how God has led them all the way. I want to say "Thank you Lord for your mercy and grace to myself, Sharon and the rest of the family." Without God's sustaining grace despair would have overcome me. "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (Psalms) I hope you have enjoyed reading about this journey of faith. God has a way of bringing His children to maturity and praise His name, He is not finished yet! Here are a few pictures of the girl in the story. The first one is with her sister and Dad on Kellee's "senior" day at high school. The month is May 1979! Sharon is on the right:>)

8 months before Sharon'saccident

Here comes the bride!

Mr. & Mrs. John Schwab

Everyone is so happy for Sharon

Years later at home in Gaithersburg!

Next to Last Segment

Today, I would like to continue my account of how my daughter's accident has affected my life. Sharon began making progress as she slowly emerged from the coma. One of the first areas to return was her ability to speak. She began with complete sentences; but each word was repeated twice. "I I love love you you." Never having traveled down this road before we didn't know what to make of this. We were assured that it was all part of the process. During the time that Sharon was in the Carter Center our five year old son Ben was very sick for a few weeks with inner ear infections and needed surgery for tubes to be put in. He ran a high fever for a few days after the surgery then he finally began to improve. We had to juggle our visits to see Sharon during this time. One early blessing that we received was our daughter praising God as she listened to a Christian music tape. She was physically only half the person that she was before but yet here she was praising God in song and with her "words". We were allowed to take her outside the WPC center for brief visits in her wheelchair. She had not progressed to walking yet. I'm sure she enjoyed getting out of the hospital environment and into some fresh air. A few weeks later we were told that we could take her home. She still had a lot of spasticity in her arm and feet. As she rode home in the car, she kept flipping down the sun visor to look at herself. She was not herself by any means but she was holding promise for much improvement. Her home care involved many people coming and going. Occupational, physical and speech therapists and teachers were common sights at our house. Sharon had to re-learn so many basics. Crawling, walking, speaking, toilet training and controlling her emotions; all these things were major accomplishments. It's amazing that she knew who we were and who she was. I had a friend who was a nurse who came over one day to help me give Sharon a tub bath. What a blessing she was! As the swelling receded in the brain we experienced lots of ups and downs during the next few months. Some of her friends came by initially but as time went on and they saw that she was not the same their visits became less. Sharon was returned to school in September of that same year. She returned in a wheelchair as she was not quite walking yet. And, of course she had to have someone willing to push her to classes. We did not realize that she wasn't really ready to go back to school at this time. We were in a hurry to get her going again and I think we pushed her a little too fast. That fall she began to have small brain seizures which affected her emotionally. Her behavior became very inappropriate. Jim & I both felt that this time during her recovery was worse than the initial first weeks. We actually didn't know what was happening to her. She did and said crazy things and the more we tried to reason with her the worse it got. Finally, we took her back to the hospital and she was examined by a psychiatrist and his diagnoses was "small brain seizures". These were affecting her behavior. He put her on a diuretic and within a few weeks her behavior turned around for the better. She went through a lot of depression but finally things began to stabilize. After trying a number of schooling options she was finally returned to Glen Burnie High School for her senior year. She walked down the aisle and received her diploma on stage! She was a year or 2 behind, but she made the grade. Sharon continued to make progress both emotionally and socially. She had a number of jobs during the ensuing years and actually learned to ride the public transportation system down to Baltimore to some training she was receiving. I actually followed the bus to make sure that she got off and on at the right spot. It was harrowing to say the least. One time a bus driver asked me why I was biting my lip? How could he tell I was stressed? Sharon's life has not been an easy one to say the least. But through it all she has exhibited much grace and strength in the Lord. She has a powerful will that keeps moving her forward. She doesn't look back and bemoan her fate. She does not feel sorry for herself which is a great attribute. She loves people and she thinks the best of others. She doesn't take into account a wrong suffered and doesn't hold a grudge. Did all this come about as a result of the accident? I'm not sure but I think that is just the way God made her. There is more to the story and hopefully next posting will bring us up to date on where she is now and what life has been for her since 1980.