Miracle on Highway #16

A Testimony of God's awesome power.

August 9, 1995 began as any other working day, but it would turn out to be a day that will forever be etched in my memory.

I got up and dressed and ready for a day at the office. I had a Revenue Canada auditor coming in today to complete an audit of our company records. I was not eager to do this because it had been a battle with the auditor from the first day she came to our office. She had come with the attitude that she was not leaving till she found something that she could catch us on, so as a result she was arguing over everything that she could possibly come up with.

I left for the office a little earlier than usual since I had to assemble some documents that she NEEDED to see. I had been battling the audit issue for over a month now and it looked as if it could go on for some time yet. It started out as a 2 day audit but was now dragging into its second month. I was starting to feel the overwhelming stress of the on going battle. The most frustrating thing was that she had yet to find something of any significance. I got to the office and did something I had never done in my office before; I knelt beside my desk to ask for the Lord's guidance for the day and for a special touch that I needed that morning. This simple act would prove to be the deciding factor in my life for that day and many to come.

The auditor came as expected and it seemed that that was the day she was going to give me the hardest time of all. It proved to be a very frustrating morning that I had to make short since I had other commitments that I needed to take care of. I ended the morning at about 11:20 and made arrangements to continue the audit in the afternoon.

We were in the process of moving a house from Radisson to our lake property at Candle Lake. We had a deadline to meet and I had already made arrangements with the pastor of our church who was going to give me a hand that evening to do some prep work on the house so that the movers could come in and do their job. The plan was to lower the 2 story house by five feet by taking off part of the roof. Due to the long distance of the move we either had to come up with $4,000.00 to lift the power lines on the route or lower the roof so that there would be no need to lift the lines. The lowering of the roof proved to be a fairly easy task but I had needed some additional lumber to shore up the roof after it had been dismantled. I had also promised my daughter Callista that I would take her to the city that day to meet a ride she was taking to visit some friends in Regina, and at the same time I was going to purchase some lumber to shore up the house roof. I left the office early so that I could make a quick trip to Radisson to take some measurements for the lumber that was required.

I stopped at the service station for some fuel and then headed out to Radisson. The day was not a very nice one, it had started to rain and we had been getting wind gusts that were reaching 100 km/hour. I took the secondary highway to Langham and then proceeded on Highway #16 from there. The highway was still a divided highway but soon narrowed to a single 2-lane highway. My mind was preoccupied with the ongoing audit and the difficult morning I had had and I was caught unawares when the car started to skid out of control. I had never experienced anything like what the car was doing on the highway. It was later reasoned by police and other rescuers that the car must have started to hydroplane on the highway and a plow wind pushed it out of control. I can remember fighting the car to get back on my side of the highway, and almost making it. I had completely crossed over the opposite lane of the highway and had almost made it back to my side, but not quite. I was straddling the centerline when disaster struck.

I had taken note of the oncoming traffic and was fully aware of the semi-tanker coming towards me and I was aware of the vehicle a little ways behind it when I lost control of the car. I estimate the truck was no more than 150 feet from me when I swerved over in front of it and if it had been back another 50 feet or so I probably would have gone by a little shaken but OK. Although everything happened in an instant I can still remember the entire series of events.

The truck driver saw me headed towards him and tried to steer out of the way, but the distance was just too close. The impact was near head-on at an impact estimated between 120 and 130 miles/hour (200 - 215 km/hour), with neither the driver of the truck or my self having time to reduce the speed by braking. I hit the truck at a slight angle, with the drivers side of the truck hitting the drivers third of the front of the car. I can still remember seeing the front bumper of the truck traveling over the hood of the car and then the front drivers wheel of the truck coming up over the front of the car right after it. I can still remember seeing my windshield shatter and fall in and the rearview mirror fall off and onto the front seat. Being a fire fighter and First Responder myself, I had an emergency light mounted on the front window. I saw it bounce onto my lap and then onto the floor. I remember the overwhelming frustration I felt; I threw my arms up to cover my face. This act proved to be the one that probably saved my arms from very serious injury. I still remember the tremendous impact I felt on the back of my right arm, which was probably the steering wheel moving over into the passenger side of the car. This was the last thing that I remember until I came to in the mangled piece of steel I had so proudly called my car.

Many thoughts had come to mind during this series of events that happened in an instant but lasted a lifetime. I remember hoping the vehicle behind the truck would be far enough back that it would not be involved in the accident. I remember thinking of the last time I had seen my family, and regretted how I had spent so little time with my family the last while and how I would never see them again because I was going home to be with my Lord. I hoped Carol and the girls would realize how much I loved them. And foremost I still remember the three last words I uttered, JESUS HELP ME!

I can still remember the feelings of frustration, but overall I had a feeling of peace. That feeling would prove to be something I could hang onto in the coming months and the many battles I would have to fight. I knew that through it all I would have my ultimate Friend at my side during these times as He was holding me in His arms the day my car fell apart around me. I have been asked many times about the sheer terror I must have felt as I saw that truck filling my windshield; how it must have been more terrible than one could even imagine. The only answer I have is that I felt absolutely no fear. In fact, a feeling of peace overwhelmed me, and I thought I was going home to be with my Lord.

The rest of the series of events is partially speculation; partly fact based on police reports. The car impacted the truck near head-on, driving the drivers' wheel up through the drivers' door. The car tore off the fuel tanks of the truck and broke a back axle. The car must have at this point careened away from the truck and either the truck pulled into the path of the car or the car spun into the path of the truck, but the car impacted the last of the two trailers the truck was hauling and tore it open. Tearing open the trailer would not have been such a significant thing but this truck was a fuel tanker hauling 2 loads of one of the most volatile fuels available, aviation fuel. This was one of many miracles but in all the ripping of metal on metal there was not one spark that ignited this fuel. It was said that if it had ignited the flames would have been visible in Saskatoon, about 20 miles (30 km) away. Even more astounding was the fact that now the truck was short a front wheel so it was dragging its front end on the pavement which too should have been sparking. With a loss of steering and brakes along with the loss of a wheel the truck finally careened into the ditch jackknifing the truck and trailers about 400 meters from where the car came to rest in the ditch on the same side of the highway.

I remember coming too, and this is where the terror began. I felt sheer terror, because there was a distinct odor of fuel and I could feel the heat of the motor on my right. I was sure I was going to go up in flames. I pulled my right arm up from beside me and noticed all the blood on my hand and arm. I put my hand back down beside my leg because I could not feel either of them. My hand came into contact with the bones protruding from my left thigh, and as if to confirm my thoughts, at this moment I heard someone shriek hysterically that my legs had been amputated. At this point I lost all sense of reality and tried to tear myself from the car. My only thought was that I had to get out of there. I remember someone talking to me and trying to calm me down, holding my arms to keep me from doing more damage to my arms or to the rest of me. I was also trying to tear my shirt off and battling my rescuer when his words of reassurance finally calmed me down.

The accident happened in front of a farmyard; in fact the car was in the ditch on one side of the approach and the truck on the other side of it. The noise of the impact had been heard at the farm and the farmers' wife ran out to help. She sent one of the children for blankets to cover me because seeing the state of the car and all the blood she thought I was dead. I remember coming to and realizing I had been completely covered. The farmers' wife later told me that she had done that and only when I groaned and came to did she realize I was still alive. The vehicle that had been traveling behind the truck also stopped and it was this person that tried to help me and calm me down. This person did not even see the car being hit; all he had seen was the truck careening into the ditch further down the road. It was only after he got to the truck that he realized that there had been a car involved.

The farm family tried to call the Langham Rescue and Fire Department but the phones were down in the area, due to the storm. It just happened that a Lloydminster Rescue Squad member was passing through and began additional medical treatment. It was not long after that that rescue finally arrived on the scene. An ambulance was also immediately dispatched from Saskatoon with the head of the paramedics on board. Police also arrived, and immediately closed the highway. Because of the severity of the spill, they put the immediate area on evacuation alert.

Rescue had a hard time getting me out of the car because the drivers side of the car was literally shaved off, the inside of the door was folded around in front of my chest and the dashboard was folded around me. The roof post on the left side of the windshield was folded down nearly impaling my chest. The front section of the roof had been shaved off yet there were no injuries to my face or head. The biggest problem the rescuers had was that they could not use the Jaws-of-Life because there was nothing for it to pry on. They were finally able to pass a chain in front of me and using a winch they were able to pull the front of the car off me. Because of the angle of the impact the steering wheel went right by giving me a glancing blow under the right arm. The act of putting my arm over my face at the time of impact was probably what saved my arm from serious injury. As it was there was a tremendous bruise extending from my armpit to about three-quarters of the way down to my waist and on the upper inside of my right arm. That bruise was still visible six months after the accident. After the front of the car was pulled off my leg the pain became so intense that I thought I could not bear it. When they finally got the backboard behind me and proceeded to take me out and straighten my leg, I remember screaming. There seemed to be so much blood all over I thought I was going to die.

I remember very little from this point on. I remember the paramedic asking me to squeeze his hand. I also remember being wheeled into the hospital and Carol coming up to the stretcher and asking me how I was. My reply was "I've had better days". I was then immediately taken to the operating room for surgery that lasted six hours.

The general surgeon had taken Carol aside and told her all the things they would probably have to do to me. They expected that they probably would have to take out my spleen and repair damage to most of the organs in my abdomen. When they did open me up they were very surprised to see that the only internal injury I had sustained was to my colon. Because of the tremendous impact, my colon had turned completely around, and was now facing backward, cutting off the blood supply to the bowel. They took out a section of my intestine and gave me a temporary colostomy to give my colon time to heal. The surgery left me with a scar that ran from just under my ribs down and around my belly button to about six inches below the belly button.

The orthopedic surgeon then began to reassemble my left leg. The ball that holds the leg on the hip had come completely off. There was a break just below the hip and another just above the knee. Between the upper break and the hip the bone had split with the outside piece coming out through the side of the leg. A small section of the protruding part had been broken off and lost. Between the upper break and the one just above th e knee the bone had traveled up and out the same side of the leg as the other bone had, removing a piece of flesh about two inches square. The lower leg had had both bones broken about four inches above the ankle. The heel bone had been shattered, causing the doctor to refer to it as a Humpty Dumpty break (one that could not be put back together again). There were several breaks in the middle of the foot with some of the bones coming up through the top of the foot along with some broken and dislocated toes. In total there were about 20 breaks. My pelvis was stressed in 4 places, with both sides now arched slightly outward or upward as I lay on my back. This was also reset at that time. There was a large piece of metal imbedded behind the knee. This piece of metal had gone in so cleanly that all they had to do was remove it, clean the wound and stitch it up. Although this metal had gone right into the knee joint it did not do any damage.

To repair the damage the surgeon had to put the longest steel plate available between the hip and the lower break along the outside of the leg. Since this was not long enough they had to put another steel plate between the upper break and the knee to hold the break above my knee in place. To repair my hip they put a three-inch long half-inch lag bolt through the upper part of the leg, through the ball, to once again attach my leg to my hip. To do all this they had to open my leg from my hip down to my knee. The surgeon then shaped the heel as best he could and aligned all the breaks in the foot and lower leg and put a cast on it. The cast had to later be split open because of all the swelling in the foot. Parts of the cast later turned red, due to the seepage of blood through the skin of the foot.

I was then put into the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital hooked up to several monitors. The usual procedure after any surgery is to awaken the patient, but the doctors said that in my case they would not since they preferred I sleep though as much of the pain as possible. They had also started me on a continuous drip of morphine to somewhat dull the pain and keep me asleep. They kept me in this state for about nine days. I remember some waking moments in which I would be aware of people around me, but I would be out again in a very short while.

These nine days were probably the most difficult days out of the entire time for Carol. She kept a constant vigil at my bedside and would only go home because she knew there were children who also needed her. As it was, she would only go home late in the evening and be back early in the morning. During those times she was there she would care for me in place of the nursing staff. I can remember waking and seeing her there and knowing that there was someone there who really cared about me. I can also remember those brief moments that I did wake up and see her there that I was worried about her, because I could see the concern and hurt in her face. Although there were always some other family members or friends around I can only remember my concern for her.

I later learned that during this drugged time I had a sense of humor they say I've never shown before. Also, because of the drugged state I was in, anything that was said to me did not register very well. When the nurse came to check and see if all my limbs were still working, she would ask me to move my toes and instead I would move my fingers. After that, anytime someone new would visit me they would ask me to wiggle my toes so they could see me wiggling my fingers instead. Another time when my heavyset uncle came to see me, Carol kept asking me if I knew who was there. My response had finally been "Who could miss him". He happens to also be the Fire Chief, and being a fire fighter, I instantly achieved permanent radio duty.

The nurses that were on my ward were probably some of the nicest people I've ever met. They work hard and are overworked and put up with a lot, but they are always there if you need them. I remember one night in particular, it had been a very difficult night and I had been in tears and could find no relief from the pain. A nurse had come to see if there was anything that she could do. She tried to get me as comfortable as possible and then said that Carol would probably not mind if she held my hand and sat with me for awhile. That small gesture was enough to get me to sleep again.

When the doctors finally started to reduce the amount of morphine that I was getting I would be awake for longer periods of time and I began to comprehend the magnitude of my injuries and how lucky I had been. When I first became aware of things I willed myself not to look down at my legs because I thought that at least one of them was gone. I did not even voice my concerns to Carol because I did not want to know what I thought was the truth, when in fact I had both of them. It was the same way with my colostomy. I did not want to know that it was permanent so I didn't ask. I regretted not asking later because it would have quelled a lot of fears days sooner. It never occurred to Carol to discuss it again because I had asked her if I had my legs many times and the colostomy had been explained to me repeatedly, but being in a drugged stupor I did not comprehend what she had told me. Carol said that some of the major concerns I had when I was drugged were if anyone had died in the accident and if I had all my body parts and how badly scarred my face would be.

The severity of my injuries finally sunk in when I was finally able to ask my doctor when I could go home and his response was a pat on the hand and "don't worry, it'll only be another six or seven weeks". I'm sure the disappointment must have been shown on my face. It was then that I was determined to prove him wrong and I began the toughest battle of my life, with Carol by my side every moment helping me, nursing me, supporting and encouraging me, and loving me.

Now began the battle of trying to walk again or even to sit up again. I was so bruised on my arms and legs that it was difficult to even move the ones that were not broken. To get me to sit in a special chair or a wheel chair took the efforts of as many as four nurses and orderlies to lift me into a chair. The effort was so great that I would almost immediately fall asleep.

Over the next few weeks I struggled to take first one step one day, two the next, and finally a dozen steps. Progress was frustratingly slow, but each progress was a time of celebration. In the fourth week of my hospital stay I again went into surgery to repair the hole in the side of my leg. They were able to repair the protruding muscle and repair the hole with a skin graft from the top of my leg. From the onset of my hospital stay I ran a fever that hit a high of 39.9, but this finally dropped to normal in the later part of the fifth week. The hard work and constant struggles finally made it possible to go home five weeks to the day of the accident, about two weeks sooner than the doctors had expected.

I went home for about four weeks before I had to once again go into surgery to reverse my colostomy. The initial prognosis was that the surgery would take about 2 to 3 hours with a hospital stay of about a week. Difficulties during surgery extended the surgery to four and a half-hours. My hospital stay was also extended to 17 days because the surgical seam in the intestine developed a leak. I was allowed to go home even though the leak had not yet healed, but after about three weeks at home the leak finally healed. From the time I first went into the hospital to the day I finally went home to stay I had lost a total of 42 lbs.

Through the ensuing months I battled severe nightmares, flashbacks and depression, but even in my bleakest time my Lord never let me down. He held me in his arms that awful August day and continues to watch each step I take and is always there when I stumble. I believe also that that unpremeditated prayer that morning placed a shield of armor between imminent death and me. To survive a head on collision with a semi at full highway speed is beyond belief, but add to this the fact that the motor and steering wheel went into the passenger seat instead of through me, the roof was sheared off but I sustained no injuries to my head, the car opened a trailer of aviation fuel and did not explode, and the truck skidded down the highway without a wheel yet the fuel did not ignite.

As Jesus declares in Matthew 21:22, "And all things whatever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." He heard me that morning and is always there when I need Him. We must realize that we are totally dependent upon God, and all we have to do is ask for His guidance and help. We must recognize that He is with us at ALL times. And we must constantly remind ourselves that we are to be continually obedient to Him with NO COMPROMISE. I know that He is not finished with me yet, and I will live each day seeking His guidance.

By: Marc Seffelaar

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