September 19, 1993 - A Day of Miracles

September 19, 1993 . . .  a day where every moment is etched into my memory as if it were a photo.  The sounds, the smells, the memories.  Every detail is carved into my memory as though it happened last year.

It was on that day, that Keith's and my life changed forever.  It was the day God gave us miracle after miracle.  It was the day God chose not to take Keith home to Heaven but rather to leave him here on earth to share his story with others so that they might know the God who orchestrated all the events that day.



You see, September 19, 1993 was the day that Keith went out to do his job for Red Rock Bible Camp as a maintenance manager, but never returned to that position.  In brief, I will share the story with you.  A bus full of Bible College students had left the camp to head back to Winnipeg.  As it headed home, it ended up in a ditch on it's side not far from the camp.  Being the maintenance director at the time, Keith and the onsite manager, Rob, went to go to see how they could get the bus out of the ditch.  Without going into details, in the process of trying to get the bus out, an accident happened that ended up with Keith under the tow truck with a broken neck (C2), a broken back (L2) and a compound fracture in his tibia/fibula.

He was taken to the Health Sciences Center where he spent the next 6 1/2 months recovering and trying to figure out how to put his life back together - knowing he would now spend it in a wheelchair.

We arrived at the HSC around 8 p.m.  At that point I still did not know to what extent he had been injured.  He had first been taken to the Beausejour hospital and there, they had told me he had a broken back, and I knew he couldn't feel or move his legs, but quite truthfully I really never realized to what extent he had been injured.  So, at the HSC, they finally told me not only had he broken his leg and back, but he had also broken his neck.  So that evening, they took him into surgery to "stabilize" his neck.  I knew this meant putting a halo on since a year previous to Keith's accident we had been to this very hospital visiting one of the staff that had worked for Keith at the camp who had also broken his neck but was a quadriplegic because of it.  When Keith woke from surgery, he had been fitted with a halo, with a weight hanging off the end of his bed to give his neck traction.  His leg had been temporarily set but his back was still broken.  They would have to wait to do anything with his back because they couldn't move him without risking damage or death from his broken neck.

The next morning we waited to hear what the doctors would say.  What they told us at that time was that Keith would never walk again.  His back vertebrae had been so completely shattered that there was nothing left of it.  They would wait for a few weeks to see what could be done to remove the intense nerve pain that he was having, although he could not feel his legs at all.

Two and a half weeks later on October 7, as reality started to settle in that he would never walk again, the doctor's decided to do surgery on his back.  It was risky because his neck was not healed.  Because of the risks involved, they put all the tubes etc. down his throat while he was still awake because they had to know whether or not he was loosing feeling in his upper body or feeling any pain when they turned him.   By about 9:30 a nurse came out to tell me that he had indeed survived being turned over, he was now out and the doctor was beginning to operate.

Before his operation, the doctor had asked Keith what he was hoping for from the operation.  We had pretty much resolved in our own minds that he would never walk again, so Keith said that the only thing he was hoping for was that he could get rid of the nerve pain in his legs that never went away.  This was being caused from all the bone fragments that were lodged in his spinal chord.  So that is what the doctor began to work on.  For the next 7 hours, he picked every splinter of bone out of Keith's spine and when Keith came to the next day, it was the first thing he realized - he had no more intense burning from the nerve pain he had had.  They also harvested a bone from his hip to create a new vertebrae to replace the one that had been shattered.  Praise the Lord!!!

One of the benefits of being in the hospital was that Keith got to meet Matt Dunigan.  Although Matt was playing for Winnipeg at the time, Keith made very sure to share the fact that he was indeed a Saskatchewan Roughrider fan!!!

Over the next several months, Keith had many many hours of physical therapy, occupational therapy and basically retraining his life to deal with legs that didn't move.  Learning to transfer in and out of a wheelchair.  Learning to sit up when you have no leg muscles to support you.  Life was very different.  After his surgery he had been fitted with a halo vest that kept his neck stabilized allowing him to sit up.  Later on once his neck was starting to heal, he was able to do more physical therapy and was fitted into a stand up wheelchair that allowed him to be upright, although he had no leg muscles.

Over the next several months, we realize that he was starting to get a few quad muscles back, and so they fitted him with full length leg braces and taught him how to use his hips to swing his legs forward to take a few steps.  It wasn't really functional for any length of time, but it did allow him to be upright and see the world from a different perspective than from his wheelchair.

Over the next year or so, Keith started to get more and more muscles back to the point that he is now able to walk with the use of canes, and braces that go under his feet to just below his knees.  What an incredible gift!!!  Being able to walk and even climb stairs.  You have no idea how restricted you are until you cannot get out of a wheelchair.

So today, 21 years later, we celebrate all the miracles that God has done for us.  It has not been an easy road.  And there are days where it is still difficult for him.  Seeing someone skating.  Or skiing.  Or biking.  Running. . . these are all things that he used to love dearly, but can no longer do.  However, we are both acutely aware that God has blessed us with 21 bonus years.  21 years that could so easily have been different.

So today, I choose to look back with joy.  With thanksgiving.  With praise to God for all the miracles he has done in Keith's life.  The story that I have written here, is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the amazing little things that God worked out.  Oh how we have been blessed!!!  So today I thank God above all else for giving me these extra bonus years with Keith.  I truly am blessed to have him in my life.  He is my miracle - every day!!!