TIM SOUTHERS

tsouthers@newstopic.net

A little more than five weeks ago, Ashlyn Pope was a typical teenager. She was enjoying her senior year at Hibriten High School, preparing to begin basketball practice in a couple of weeks and was riding home with her father David when her world was changed forever.

Now, due to circumstances beyond her control, Pope is lucky to be alive and faces a long road to complete recovery as she remains at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte 38 days after a horrific head-on collision just two miles from her home.

While it is sad what Ashlyn Pope has had to endure, she, her parents and entire family have had a special reason to be thankful this season. Despite the pain and surgeries Ashlyn has had to endure since arriving by helicopter in critical condition that fateful night, she and her family feel they have been blessed by all the prayers and efforts friends and family members have made to help them since the accident.

Ashlyn and her mother Paula allowed the News-Topic to visit last Tuesday and spend time during a morning therapy session. Now that Ashlyn has cleared some major hurdles in her recovery, she wanted to personally tell her story and thank everyone for their love and support in what has clearly been the most difficult time in her young life.

The Accident

It is probably a blessing in many ways that Ashlyn doesn't remember much about the accident itself. She and her father were coming back home after she had attended a pitching lesson in Clemmons just outside of Winston-Salem. They drove the usual route, returning to the Kings Creek community where they live. They were close to home when David Pope came upon a truck in his lane.

He attempted to miss the oncoming truck, but there wasn't enough time. The two vehicles made contact mostly on the passenger side of both vehicles, including the side where Ashlyn was sitting. David and Ashlyn both were conscious despite the hard collision, and David's first call was to 911, although he couldn't get a signal initially.

His next instinct was to call home, and he reached his son Andrew on the phone. Andrew came running down the steps to alert Paula that David and Ashlyn had just been in a terrible accident.

"I was in the house with just some flip-flops on and a pair of jeans and a T-shirt," Paula said. "We took off immediately and went straight to the site of the accident."

Paula spoke often during the morning about how hard it was to be at the accident site and hearing Ashlyn screaming in pain.

"As a mother you want to do anything you can to comfort your child, and not being able to help Ashlyn that night was really hard on me," Paula said. "I know she was being cared for by some wonderful people from the Kings Creek Fire Department and Caldwell County paramedics, but I wanted to be in there with her."

It took approximately 35 to 40 minutes to extricate Ashlyn from the mangled vehicle and another 20 minutes to stabilize her enough to make the flight in the medical helicopter that had landed at nearby Kings Creek Elementary School.

Ashlyn's mother mentioned repeatedly about the miracles they have witnessed during the past five weeks, including how and when the accident happened and the little things that came together to allow Ashlyn a fighting chance for survival.

The wreck occurred directly in front of the home of Kings Creek resident and captain of the Kings Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Mitch Foust, who has responded to numerous traffic incidents throughout the years. He heard the crash but at first couldn't locate it from his front door.

"I have a big tree that was blocking my view so I never saw the vehicles," Foust said. "A second later the tone came through on the call, and I went running out there. Jerry Simmons, a deputy sheriff who lives across the street, came out, too, and we went to work as fast as we could."

Foust was able to help David Pope out of the vehicle and assess his injuries. He also went over to the driver of the truck, Donald Ferko Jr. Foust saw that Ferko already was out of his vehicle and was standing in front of the truck surveying the scene.

"We saw that David was injured, but he kept telling us to go to Ashlyn, and the other driver was walking wounded so we knew they were probably OK, and we turned our attention to Ashlyn," Foust said. "The only problem was the vehicle wasn't secure. And we had to wait until we could get the vehicle secure before we could really go to work. But I jumped in the driver's seat right away and started doing what I could to help Ashlyn."

The First Two Weeks

While Ashlyn has made what her doctors in Charlotte have called a "miraculous" recovery, she still has a long road back to heal completely from her injuries.

Ashlyn suffered broken femurs, a broken ankle, wrist and two broken vertebrae in her back. She also suffered a broken jaw, lacerated spleen and liver. The latter two injuries played a key factor in driving up a fever to near fatal levels and putting off much-needed surgery for a several days. Paula, still by her daughter's side, had to endure a situation where all she could do was pray and watch over her daughter.

"When her fever was so high, they kept her room between 62 and 68 degrees to help the fever. And, also, the doctors said the cooler temperatures would help her fight her injuries," Paula said. "My first instinct was to cover her up as it was so cool in the room, but I couldn't. And, here again, I felt helpless because there was nothing I could do to help Ashlyn."

Doctors kept Ashlyn in a medically-induced coma due to the severity of her injuries and also to help her body begin to heal itself.

Ashlyn had her final surgery two weeks to the day of the accident and finally was able to have the ventilator removed, after responding well to breathing treatments.

Expect a Miracle

The recovery Ashlyn has achieved is, in Paula's words, a miracle as the doctors and therapists have been amazed at how fast the teenager has responded.

"The Pope family wants to thank everyone for their prayers, flowers, gifts, support and money raised to help Ashlyn," Paula said. "I don't think we would ever do or say thank you enough to everyone. I am proud to say I am from Caldwell County because of how special the people are and how much love and support they have shown Ashlyn."

There is a sign that hangs above Ashlyn's hospital bed that reads, "Expect a Miracle," and a miracle is what she has received in many ways - before, during, and after the accident.

Paula said doctors believe that because Ashlyn had her feet propped up in the seat, it probably save her from her injuries from being even worse. Foust also commented that on the night of the accident, Kings Creek Fire Department was hosting a class for members, meaning the response time and the number of qualified people able to get to the scene practically was immediate.

But perhaps most important, Ashlyn's accident brought a community together to pray for her and her family. And she has received notes on caringbridge.com from across the United States.

Another miracle has been the support shown by the teenagers in Ashlyn's life.

"It has been such a blessing to see how the young people have reacted to this for Ashlyn," Paula said. "Every time they visit or we read something on Caring Bridge, it is just a blessing to see how these young people have prayed and listened to the message about how impaired driving can hurt so many people."

A week ago, Ashlyn was able to go down to the lobby of the hospital for a while and visit with numerous family and friends who made the trip. It couldn't have come at a better time for her.

"I probably had one of the roughest mornings I have had here at the hospital," Ashlyn said. "But I can't tell you what that meant to me to see my friends and family. It was really special to see and know how many people care for me and have been praying for me. I will never forget that."

Paula also said that the extent of Ashlyn's injuries were also a miracle.

"The doctors told us her internal injuries were just short of requiring surgery or being paralyzed," Paula said. "The doctors said if the injuries were listed from 1-100 in severity, Ashlyn's injuries were a 90, and we praise God for that. And we hope the rest of her injuries are just short of more surgery too."

The Rehabilitation

There is a work in progress for Ashlyn that probably will last well into next year and beyond as her body continues to heal itself. The daily grind of therapy sessions and workouts have been exhausting and, unfortunately, very painful.

The morning the News-Topic visited Ashlyn, she had to wait approximately one hour for her pain medicine to take effect in order to withstand the pain of the therapy.

"That is the hard part right now," Ashlyn said. "Therapy is pretty painful, but I am working hard. Therapy is a lot like practice in sports, but it hurts a lot worse. You have to pace yourself like we do in basketball practice, but it (therapy) is a lot harder."

Ashlyn also approaches therapy with a sense of humor.

"I used to work out with 10- or 20-pound hand weights," she said. "When they first brought in a 4-pound weight I kind of laughed, thinking this would be easy. I could hardly lift it at all."

Ashlyn is known to love animals. She love them so much, in fact, that she has five dogs, four horses and a cat. The hospital has a policy of no pets, but this past week she began one part of her therapy that features a Labrador/golden retriever mix. The animal has lifted Ashlyn's spirits, according to Paula.

The dog is named Baker, and he is a specially-trained therapy dog the hospital uses with patients. The canine has proven to be a positive influence in Ashlyn's recovery.

"You could see her eyes widen up when they brought the dog in to help her in therapy," Paula added. "She looks forward to seeing Baker every day and can't wait to get home and see her dogs again."

Sense of Humor

If you expect to see a young girl bitter at the world, Ashlyn was far from it last Tuesday morning. In fact, her well-known sense of humor was in full gear.

When asked what her favorite subject was in high school she gave a surprising answer.

"Lunch," Ashlyn said, laughing and smiling despite recovering from a broken jaw. "The doctors have said it would be the end of January before I go back to school. But it is going to be way before then. I really want to get back to school. I never thought I would say that. But I miss my friends."

Ashlyn also has kept up as much as possible with one of her favorite sports.

"I heard we have already won a basketball game this year, and that is great," Ashlyn said. "I love basketball and wish I could be there with my teammates right now."

The teenager smiled when she was told that her teammates made sure her jersey was taken in the team picture this season. The uniform also will be on hand at every home game. Her basketball coach, Monte Simmons, said Ashlyn is helping her teammates while she is in the hospital.

"I think our team realizes how hard Ashlyn is working to get better, and that makes them want to work harder," Simmons said. "We miss her and love her, and can't wait to see her here at school real soon."

Ashlyn also smiled when speaking of her friends and many people here in Caldwell County.

"I know everyone has prayed for me from a lot of churches, and that means a lot to me," Ashlyn said.

One of the first questions Ashlyn asked Paula after coming out of her coma was something pretty funny.

"Ashlyn asked me if she acted like a baby at the accident scene, and I told her, 'No,'" Paula said. "I was the one that probably acted like that because I wanted to get in that car and help her. She was brave but wanted to make sure she didn't embarrass herself."

The Future

Although it is still not definite, Ashlyn could be returning home to continue her therapy and recovery as early as this week.

"I just want to get back home and get to school," Ashlyn said.

She said she doesn't harbor any ill will toward the driver who hit her. Instead, Ashlyn and Paula want to work to change North Carolina laws concerning driving while impaired.

"We have to do something to change the laws to make a difference and stop impaired driving," said Paula. "There are too many accidents hurting young people and breaking beautiful bodies caused by impaired drivers."

One blessing from Ashlyn's accident that Paula hopes occurs is for all the young people who are thinking and praying for Ashlyn will recognize the dangers of driving while impaired.

"I have noticed that we have a lot of wonderful young people in Caldwell County, and I hope they if there is something good to come out of this, it is that parents never take their children for granted. And be thankful that they have their children every day and that they are able to do things with them," Paula said.

Ashlyn wants to return home, and while the trip back to Kings Creek didn't happen in time to celebrate Thanksgiving there, her mother said they have already had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

"Her father and I are so thankful that we have Ashlyn, and we thank God for the blessing of having her with us," Paula said. "We might not celebrate Thanksgiving at home, but Lord willing, we will be able to celebrate Christmas at home with our entire family."

Thanksgiving

While this Thanksgiving was definitely different for the Pope family, they have a lot to be thankful for and want to make sure they thank as many people as possible.

"I am afraid to mention too many names. Because there are so many people to thank, we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings if we forget to mention names," Paula said with Ashlyn nodding in approval. "Obviously, we couldn't have gotten through this so far without the Lord's help and all of the prayers from everyone."

Paula was especially appreciative of the efforts from people working hard to build prayer lists for Ashlyn, selling bracelets and the understanding of her employer, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, while she stays with Ashlyn during her recovery.

"I don't think we will ever be able to thank everyone enough for what they have done for Ashlyn," Paula said. "This has been tough, and all I ask is everyone to keep praying for Ashlyn as her recovery is going to be a long and painful one."

Thankfully, Ashlyn will be able to come home soon and thank everyone herself in person. And that is something the 17-year old can't wait to do.

"I just want to get back home," Ashlyn said. "I miss my friends, family, teachers and my animals."

When she does come home, she will have thousands ready to welcome her back to Caldwell County.

"I am so proud to say I live in Caldwell County because of all the wonderful people," Paula said. "Everyone has helped us make this a special Thanksgiving."