The Miracle of it all

Part 1-The Day to Remember

July 23rd, 1988 began as any normal day with my wife Jan dropping me off at work. It would however end up being the beginning of one of the most difficult days and time periods of my young life. I was 23 years old and Jan was still a young 19 year old mother. I was just starting a new job working for Mike Hale Acura in Murray. I was in some sense of the words “trying to find my way”. After a short 14 months working with New York Life as an insurance agent, I decided to move on and try and find something else that I would enjoy doing.

Just 30 minutes into work, I was walking past a phone when it rang, I stopped and answered the phone. A man on the other end asked if I had a wife named Jane, I said, “no, my wife’s name is Jan”. He then asked. “Does she drive a beige Honda Accord?” I responded hesitantly…”Yes?” he then said words that have echoed in my mind many times. “She has been in a terrible accident and your wife and baby have been severely injured. The accident is at 4100 S. Redwood Road, you need to get here as soon as you can.”

I hung up the phone and approached me new boss, Drew Goates, “Drew, my wife and son have been in a bad accident at 4100 S Redwood rd. I need a car or someone to take me there, can you help?” Drew grabbed the keys to one of the demo cars and we went out and jumped in the car. He sped the 3.7 miles to the accident scene. We parked at the 7-11 on the Southwest corner and I ran to my where my wife was being treated by the paramedics. As I approached her, she was crying. When she saw me, she said “Dave, I have killed our son…” My heart dropped, but I responded by saying “It is okay honey, he is ours forever.” The very first words that came to my mind prompted by a promise made in the Holy Temple when we were sealed together as an eternal family on August 11th, 1987 just a short year before.

Another paramedic approached and asked me to come to the back of another ambulance that was a short distance away. He said “We need you to come and tell us where you want your son taken to be pronounced dead.” I wasn’t sure how to respond. There isn’t a training manual that I know of that prepares a father or mother for this sort of thing. I hesitated and then a voice behind me said, “No, you are not going to do that…you are going to get a helicopter in here, land it in this intersection and get this boy up to Primary Children’s Hospital as fast as you can!” The paramedic looked at me and asked.
“Is that what you want?” I responded “Yes!”

Here is something I did not know about Drew. Drew had a manual, he knew what to do when a crisis of this nature presented itself. You see, Drew had a beautiful little boy that had been playing in front of his house on the edge of the road in a pile of leaves when a dump truck had ran through the pile of leaves… Drew’s little boy was killed and he and his sweet wife had experienced the heartache and pain that comes from losing a child. Drew knew what to do, because he had been through this tragedy just six months earlier.

Now some would say this is purely incidental, that God had nothing to do with placing Drew in my life on that fateful day, but I know different. You see, it didn’t happen just once that day, no, it didn’t happen just twice that day, it happened no less than three times on that first day. When Derek my son was on the helicopter, and my wife was taken by ambulance to LDS Hospital, Drew drove me back to work and gave me a 1983 Nissan Sentra that he had taken in on trade a few days before and told me I could drive it as long as I needed it.

I drove up to the old Primary Children’s Hospital fearful that I would find my son dead. When I walked in, they took me through a series of questions and then let me sit outside the emergency room where a doctor and his team were working to stabilize Derek. After a while the doctor came and gave me an update. “We are trying to stabilize him, but he is in really bad shape, he had to be revived three times on the flight over here and i don’t know if we will be able to save him.” My heart sank. I asked the doctor if I could please go in and give my son a priesthood blessing. You see, I had been ordained an Elder in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints when I was 18 years old, and with that priesthood came the power and authority to lay my hands on the head of someone that needed a priesthood blessing that God wanted them to have. It could be a blessing to be healed, or a blessing of peace, or comfort or it could be a blessing to release that person from life. My intent was to release Derek, his skull had been shattered in the accident, his head swollen beyond recognition, his ears sticking out sideways from his head even at the scene of the accident. He was just ten weeks old and was a premature baby as well. So, his car seat would not have held him because in those days they did not make a premature baby car seat. There was a one-size-fits-all car seats only.

The doctor would not let me enter the emergency room until they had him stabilized. The charge nurse soon found me and told me that my wife needed a ride up to the Old Primary children’s Hospital. I didn’t want to leave Derek, so my brother-in-law Kent Bruin drove to LDS hospital and brought Jan up to be with Derek. She had a hairline fracture in her neck and had to wear a brace. She had severely bruised ribs and very sore and aching shoulder. When she arrived, the emergency room doctor came out to speak with us, after a brief weary look, he suddenly ‘exclaimed “Jan Bruin?” my wife’s maiden name. She exclaimed’ Dr. Dansy?” Her pediatrician who delivered her and took care of her through her entire growing up years…just happened to be the doctor attending our baby boy…coincidence? Later that night, my father and mother came to see us, my father asked if Derek had received a blessing. I told him that we had not been allowed to bless him yet and that I wasn’t sure if I could do it. My Dad offered to bless him. So, we approached the doctor and asked if we could administer to Derek. He agreed and we entered the emergency room. He had tubes everywhere and his poor little head was so swollen. I anointed his head with consecrated oil with my fingertip and my Father sealed the anointing and gave him a priesthood blessing. We had discussed releasing Derek from life so he would not have to suffer. Instead, the Lord whispered to my Dad that he was to bless him to be healed, to lead a normal life and to serve a mission for his church and one day be married and have children… God had a far different path for Derek and for Jan and I than what we had been envisioned. I have learned that his ways are much, much higher than my ways, his way is one of change, hardship and miracles. Often in life we desire a life of ease and very few challenges, but Christ, God’s Holy Son has shown us the greater path, one of hardship, pain, suffering and growth with a touch of betrayal. But trusting in him and his tender care, all things with God are possible.

Later that evening as the great team at Primary Children’s was able to stabilize Derek, he was finally transferred to the ICU where we were introduced to his doctor and then to his nurse. Did I mention there were three miracles that first day? When they introduced us to his attending nurse…it was Karen Hatfield. Karen was not just a nurse…no she was a friend with whom I had become acquainted in Argentina while serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints from 1983-1985. She was in fact one of the sister missionaries that had served in my area and was known as “one of my sister missionaries…” She blessed our hearts and put our minds at ease as she promised she would stay with our son and not leave him alone, but would stay at the hospital until he was better. Did the Lord understand our need for comfort in this our time of need? Did he do all he could to help us have faith in him and trust in his tender mercies? I would submit, that he went above and beyond in this important life changing, faith building, experience. He performed miracles!