I wanted to continue my dad's amazing story of God's perfect plan in his life. When we are affected by a tragedy or trial in our life all we can think is, this can't be good. Maybe we question God and want to know just what He is thinking! I always told dad he had to endure all of that because one day he would have a little daughter who would need him to show her how to survive a tragedy in her own little life. As true as that was, little did I know that there was going to be so much more to his story.
About 16 years ago on a cold February day in the Midwest, my dad had my mom drive him out to scout camp so he could meet some guys to haul some down trees out of the woods so they could be split. The other guys didn't show up but dad figured he wasn't going to waste the day, so got the tractor out and proceeded with the task at hand. My dad loved to drive the tractor. I think because he couldn't drive a car, he got a certain amount of satisfaction from driving a tractor. Anyway, dad had chained up a log and it got snagged. So he got off the tractor to roll it loose and climbed back up on his seat to give it one more try. As he looked over his shoulder to see that all was going well, the tractor flipped over backwards, pinning him underneath.
We don't know how long he laid under that tractor but his watch broke at 9:30AM. Somehow he managed to dig himself out. We are thinking the blood from his head injury had thawed the ground enough that with one hand, he was able to free himself. Did I say head injury? Oh yes, major head injury. The gear shift and steering wheel from the tractor literally destroyed half his face and forehead. One eye was out of it's socket. Upon digging himself out, somehow he made his way another 1/2 mile to the lodge where he administered his own first aid by wrapping his head in kitchen towels and then calling my mom at work to tell her he had hurt himself and that she might want to take him to the hospital. That call was made at noon. We really don't know how daddy made it out and to the lodge. We feel his guardian angel carried him and I think he does too. To this day, there are still so many unanswered questions.
So mom arrives to find him sitting in a chair with a towel wrapped around his head....she has no idea the extent of the injury. He won't allow her to leave without locking everything up and then off they go to the ER.
The young neurosurgeon that is assigned to my dad had been attending a brain symposium that just happened to be in our town that very week and the #3 neurosurgeon with Mayo Clinic was the keynote speaker. He asked him if he wouldn't mind staying to oversee dad's surgery the next day. He agrees and then when they were done he hopped on a plane and we never heard from him again. Dad's brain surgery was tricky because of the old war injury. There was a cavity in my dad's head where the bullet had been removed and then a steel plate was placed over it to protect the area. That cavity cushioned the blow to his head that cold February day and the steel plate protected his brain. My dad had no brain damage!!! His eye was put back in it's socket and he could see, he went through hours of plastic surgery and guess what? He still looks like daddy. So the tragedy that touched his life 50 years prior, saved his own life that day. Just don't take him through a metal detector!
I am very blessed to still have both my parents and they both continue to amaze me with their strength and love for family, friends and most of all, their Lord and Savior.
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