Josh

Saturday night, July 16^th.About 11:30 pm, the phone rings. I am at Moffit Cancer center in Tampa with Amanda.She is in the “conditioning” process, for her stem cell transplant. Her mother, Laurie stayed these past two nights, and now I will be here until Monday night when Laurie comes back. The plan is for me to come back again on Wednesday, the day they give Amanda her stem cells back… Day 0. But the phone call changes this plan.

Amanda hangs up and says, “You have to call Jeannette. Josh was in an accident and has a serious head injury.” From the chair I am sleeping in, I try to wrap my mind around what Amanda has just said. I feel the blood in my body turn cold. My heart beats, but I can’t really feel it. I begin to take deep breaths. I say to Amanda, “ I need a minute to get up. I can’t move yet. I need to breathe.”

I slowly get up and move toward the locker where my purse holds my cell phone. “I..I don’t know where I put my phones… oh here they are.”

‘It’s that job! That f#%^*ing job!” I really don’t know what that meant… I didn’t know yet, what kind of accident, or ANYthing. That was some sort of defensive attack on whatever it was that hurt my child.

Minutes later, Jeannette’s mother, Nancy answers the house phone. “Nancy, this is Mary.”

“I don’t know anything.” Were her first words.

“Was he at work? Was he working?”

“Well, he told us he was working, but he wasn’t.” She sounded disgusted.

“What is Jeannette’s, cell number? Where is she?”

“Suzy is picking her up and taking her to the hospital”, then Nancy gives me the number.

“Okay, thanks. Bye.”

Jeannette answers quickly, and tells me they are almost to the hospital. “He was on a motorcycle, and laid it over and a car ran over him. They are Life Flighting him to the hospital right now.” She sounded angry.

I was going to vomit. My mind started to see the image of the accident, and my heart screamed, “NO!”

Telling her to call me no matter what the time, as soon as they tell her ANYthing, I hang up with Jeannette to start the calling to Bo and my other sons. Numb is a very odd feeling.

Amanda looks at me with those beautiful big eyes of wonderment and innocence, and states with confidence, “He’s going to be fine. He is okay.”

I respond, “You have a direct line to God. I have seen His work in you. I need you to ask Him to make Josh okay.” She begins to pray, and cry. I dial the phone to Bo, begin to tell him what I know, the Nurse, Richelle, comes in and hooks Amanda up to her Chemo.