Uncle Brant

How was your long weekend?  Did you spend it with family and friends?  Did you do fun things?  We did!  My sister, Jenna got married last weekend, so we got to kick off the summer with her wedding, and followed it up the next week in the company of our extended family on my mom's side.  Otto had a scout camp that he went to (and had a blast), and we spent the week with my Aunt Christie's family doing various activities.  We also got to see one of my great friends, Cynthia, who has been up here visiting for the summer!  The perfect week right?
Well, almost.
On June 30th, my Uncle was involved in an accident while loading the boat at the cabin which almost killed him.  Our cabin is boat access only and so we store our boat at "The Marina" and the brakes on one of the boat launchers failed causing my Uncle to fall out of the boat that he was loading and onto the cement, where the launcher proceeded to run over him with it's back wheels, drag him into 2 poles which broke on impact and then run over him with it's front wheels too.
It is AMAZING that he is even alive.
He has:
3 broken vertebrae in his back
Skull fracture from the base of his neck through his face to his nose
5 broken ribs
Bruised lungs
Broken collar bone
Shattered elbow
Lots of muscle damage to one of his knees
Shattered ankle
Broken ear drum
He was leaking cerebral fluid out of his ears for a couple of days, but the doctors seem to think that will clear up.  The biggest problem is that his lungs are already weak because he had cancer 20 years ago and right now he cannot breathe on his own.  He has developed an infection in his lungs that the doctors are treating, and even though he is improving a bit, day by day, he is still in the ICU listed as being in stable but serious condition.
Immediately upon hearing about the accident, my parents, grandparents and my Aunt Christie all went out to be with him and his wife and two of his children who were with him.  My mom is still there with my Uncle and his wife and my grandparents.  She continues to give us updates on his condition.
This has been a shock to me.  I don't know how close you are to your extended relatives, but I grew up being quite close to mine.  My Uncle lives only 15 minutes away from myself and Otto and I see him and his family at least once a month.  I also am in a singing group with my aunt and so hearing about this terrible accident has been devastating.
The good news is that it has also been motivating me to be better prepared.  It has made me look through my bank accounts and make sure that both mine and Otto's names are on all accounts, registrations, credit cards, etc.  It has made me check into my insurance policies to see if I have proper coverage.  It has made me take a look at my family life and wonder if all of my affairs are in order so that if something were to happen to myself or my husband, would we be able to get through it.
I can only imagine the pain and the sorrow that my aunt is feeling right now.  I don't know what I would do if something like that happened to my Big Guy.  Being so far away from it all and knowing that I can't really help at all has been really hard for me.
So all I can do is pray. . . .
. . . and wait. . . .
. . . and hope that all will be well.