If you pray..then take a minute and pray...

I received the following email from a friend of mine this morning.
Mary Ann - The person in this story is an aquantince, someone I used to know but haven't seen in a million years.
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Hi guys – just wanted to fill you in…….bad news……sorry. I didn’t find out until Friday evening…Paul left a message on the voice mail at home. Mary Ann R was in a serious car accident on Thursday afternoon on HWY 270 near Graham Road. Apparently, an SUV cut her off to get on 170…when that happened obviously she hit her brakes and then she remembers seeing an 18 wheeler, but after that the next thing she remembers was being stuck in the car and people were outside telling her to hold on and that help was on the way. The paramedics/firefighters had to cut her out of the vehicle.

She is in DePaul Hospital. She has a broken right wrist, a broken right arm, something in the shoulder socket is broken or fractured in the same arm. She fractured her skull and her neck…don’t know if that is an actual break of fracture. She had such a serious concussion that it caused bleeding in her ears which made her unable to hear at all. I don’t think they are positive on anything below the waste yet. (remember she was hit by a car when she was crossing a street when she was in high school and she was injured badly…..she still sustains some of those injuries daily from that…crushed pelvis, injured back, etc…..) They were able to clean out her ears a bit, but now she has blood clots in them. She can hear a bit better out of the left ear, but you have to almost scream.

Mary Ann has to wear a halo for 8-12 weeks. It weighs 35-40 pounds and goes all the way around her head and neck and down her back. It prevents her from being able to move her head/neck in any way. She can’t turn at all and it’s very restraining. George and I stopped in the hospital after Mass on Sunday and visited with her briefly. Her parents were there and a friends from her work and another friend from her church. They asked for no visitors other than family until Sunday. She was having major back spasms and also having several panic attacks. It must be terrifying to be in the halo and not able to move. They were trying to up her valium since she is conscious now, etc. She was sort of reliving the accident and talking a little about what happened….only she doesn’t remember much. She was extremely upset, which is completely normal. It was very hard to see her in such bad shape.

The doctor ordered a hospital bed for her parents house and said when she is releases she would need to go there for 8-12 weeks. However, I talked to Paul again last night and he said they aren’t sure she will go directly there. He said the doctor is trying to get her into a rehab program at St. Mary’s Hospital in Clayton. He wasn’t sure how soon any of this would even take place. Their parents are older and although they take care of themselves, being able to take care of her when she can basically do nothing, is another story. Maybe after some time in rehab, etc. she will be able to go with them and do more on her own….not sure.

One other big thing that is still a HUGE concern right now….she was diagnosed with MS maybe two years ago. Well, even though she takes shots and treatments and doesn’t have noticeable MS symptoms, anytime you have major trauma to your body and you have MS, this supposedly triggers more symptoms to come to the surface. I know they are trying to schedule an MRI, but with everything they have her hooked up to….not sure how and when that will take place.

She needs prayers.