Mom's accident: Faith, Family and a healthy lifestyle (CrossFit)
Mother's Day just passed and wanted to reflect on the story of our Mom's accident. We almost lost Mom, Cheryl Knape, in 2012 due to what should have been a fatal accident... she was run over by a 1,400 lb cow while working cows.
Mom's teach us a lot that we may not realize when growing up. Mainly, I believe we learn by watching and not necessarily from what we are told to do (... I always listened though!...). Even at 30 years old at the time, the Lord had another lesson that was literally about to hit our family like a ton of bricks.
It was about lunch time on June 6, 2012 when I got a phone call from my dad. He was in the back of an ambulance and said Mom had a bad accident and was trampled by a cow. Mom, dad and Gary Batson were working cows, as they always did, at the clinic. They had a few cows left and all the cows followed as normal into the barn except for one...she went haywire, turned around... and jumped over a concrete water trough. Mom turned to run and before she could leap out of the way the 1,400 lb cow came down with her 2 front legs landing on her back just below the ribs, lacerating nearly every internal organ without breaking any actual bones.
She was life flighted to a nearby hospital (Dad had to take an ambulance) where they initially thought it wasn't that bad. They were wrong. She was then life flighted a few days later to Memorial Herman Hospital in the Medical Center in Houston. She was in the PICU, where my dad, brother and I took turns spending the night for several weeks. She was not really conscious most of the time, but we sat with her and talked with her and prayed with and for her. We waited... so many people came to visit, and while most didn't even get to see her (ICU rules) they came to pray with us and sit with us... and bring us food. It truly is a testament to who Mom is to her friends, family and her community. They even had a blood drive for her!
After a few months Mom was released to a lesser ICU and then finally in a normal hospital room. Over the entire journey between hospitals, nurses, doctors one thing remained constant... her determination to survive and fight for her life... and her family. Every doctor told her that anybody else would not have survived that accident. When asked if she took any medication it was always the same response, "No, but I do CrossFit!" Her body was healthy and her spirit unbreakable.
After she was out of the hospital, it was still a long road in terms of recovery. There were also a few more surgeries to go as well that were always looming. However, she never quit and had the love and support of a lot folks!
Watching somebody fight for their life with every breathe is something we wouldn't wish on anybody, especially a Mom. Our Mom has done more for us than you can imagine and watching her fight, never giving up hope and never losing faith is something that will resonate with us forever. God is great!
BIGGEST QUESTION: So... what happened to the cow?? Well, let's just say my mom got a new purse out of the deal! My folks also threw a BBQ THANK YOU party at Memorial Herman for the ICU staff and Dr. Red Duke, her primary doctor. As a gift, we passed out packaged hamburger meat... from the cow that started it all! The staff was excited and loved seeing how well Mom is doing. I never realized it, but when somebody comes out of ICU they typically never want to go near that place ever again, so the staff rarely gets to catch up again from what they said. Makes sense though!
Thanks again to all the friends and family that helped through the hard times, love y'all!
<-- Mom's care page had over 18,000 notes and prayers over the journey!