by Linda Burchette, Assistant Editor - Jefferson Post
Some
people believe everything happens for a reason. Even a tragedy,
difficult at first to comprehend, may leave the survivor feeling that
he or she has a higher purpose. Tiffany Jones believes this. And her
family is buoyed by the strength of her faith. But in the meantime,
there is the reality to face.
Only two months after a terrible
accident that may leave her paralyzed from the chest down and confined
to a wheelchair, 18-year-old Tiffany Jones has the fortitude of her
faith and the boundless enthusiasm of youth to help her endure and give
her hope. Her parents, Jeff and Lisa Jones of West Jefferson, are
comforted by her amazingly positive attitude and this helps lift them
from despair to do what they need to do on her behalf.
“She’s
always been one who believes things happen for a reason,” said
Tiffany’s mother, Lisa Jones. “That God is in
control.”
On the night of January 5, Tiffany was thrown
from a vehicle in which she was riding. Her boyfriend, who was driving,
swerved to miss some deer and lost control. The vehicle flipped several
times and Tiffany, who was not wearing her safety belt, was sucked out
of the back window and thrown 30 feet to the pavement. Her mother said
she was conscious the whole time and felt her neck break. She also
suffered a separated right shoulder, broken nose, lacerated liver
(which healed almost immediately) and cuts and bruises. Her boyfriend
was wearing his safety belt and suffered only a neck injury and has
since recovered. Tiffany has a long road ahead of her.
Attending
college on a full academic and athletic scholarship, Tiffany played
fast pitch softball. She had undergone conditioning and training for
the season at Walter State in Tennessee. At the time of the accident,
Tiffany was in the best shape of her life, her mother said. That has
helped in her recovery process.
After the accident, Tiffany was
transported to Ashe Memorial Hospital. “They did an excellent
job,” Lisa said. “Dr. Tan was her doctor. He gave her a
special shot for spinal cord injuries that must be given within a
certain amount of time after an accident.” That drug is
methylprednisolone, a steroid that appears to reduce damage to nerve
cells if administered within the first eight hours after an injury.
Tiffany was then taken by helicopter to the emergency center of
Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Lisa went with her. An hour or
so after arriving, doctors told Lisa that Tiffany’s spinal cord
appeared to be severed and she would never walk again.
The
impact of that news was devastating to Tiffany’s family, but she
refused to accept a foregone conclusion. Lisa said the doctors put a
steel plate on Tiffany’s spine during surgery to protect the
damaged Vertebrae. “She asked the doctor if that would help her
walk, and he said no, and she told him, �I’m sorry, but
you’re wrong.’ It was a miracle she made it through the
wreck,” Lisa said. “They told us in Charlotte that if she
lived she would never walk again. That’s the way they said
it.”
Tiffany broke her neck at the C5 and C6 vertebrae and
nearly severed her spinal cord at the C4 vertebrae. There was just a
thin cord left connecting the vertebrae. Her parents were told she
would have to be on a Ventilator, but it was needed only during
surgery. Afterwards, she was breathing on her own. That is a miracle in
itself, Lisa said, as most people suffering a C4 break require a
ventilator for breathing. Tiffany has shown miraculous progress all
along.
Despite widely fluctuating body temperature and blood
pressure due to her spinal cord injury, Tiffany has come through the
initial trauma and continues to make progress.
“The people
in the Charlotte ICU are absolutely excellent,” Lisa said.
“They are wonderful. They’ve been so helpful to Tiffany.
She has control of her arms and can shrug her shoulders. She
can’t flex her fingers, but she can put her pointer finger and
thumb together. She’s really functioning at the level of a C7
break. She has some feeling in her stomach area. She can move both arms
well and has good wrist control. She started getting feeling in her
right arm off and on right after the accident, and she can use it now.
I asked God for a sign, and he gave us a bunch of them.”
Lisa
said that Tiffany was transferred on January 16 to The Shepherd’s
Center in Atlanta for Rehabilitation. She started undergoing
occupational and Physical Therapy, much of which was disguised as fun
activities. “She’s strong enough now that they put her in a
manual wheelchair so she could push herself. That’s just
amazing,” Lisa said. “Their goal is to send her home in a
manual wheelchair, not an electric one.”
Some other signs
of recovery include feeling in the lower part of her body. Lisa said
Tiffany could feel shots in her buttocks and stomach. And she also
feels catherization. She can feel when she needs to go to the bathroom,
but cannot do so on her own yet. All are signs of hope for this
remarkable young woman.
Tiffany’s family is being trained
in how to care for her when she comes home, which may be the end of
March. That is when the grim reality hits home. The family home is
being remodeled to accommodate Tiffany’s needs. Plans are in
place for therapy. Hopes for her are high, but so are the bills. This
is where the community can help, and is helping.
“It’s
hard down there,” Lisa said of the therapy situation in Atlanta.
“There’s a lot of expense. It’s $500 a week out of
pocket for therapy. It costs several thousand for a manual wheelchair.
The electric ones cost about $10,000 and you need a special van for
transportation because those can’t be folded down. She needs a
shower chair and special adaptive equipment. We have to make the house
handicap accessible, put in ramps and remodel the bathroom for her and
widen all the doorways.” Jeff and Lisa Jones also have tremendous
expenses for gas, food and hotel bills. One or the other tries to be
with Tiffany as much as possible. Tiffany will be out of the hospital
on Thursday and start day therapy on Friday. Lisa left Monday to stay
with Tiffany in a special apartment at The Shepherd’s Center for
several weeks of therapy. Afterwards, Tiffany should be coming home.
“Jeff
and I would really like to thank everyone for their help and
support,” Lisa said. “We live in a wonderful place.
Everyone has been wonderful. It’s unbelievable. There’s no
way to thank everyone, but we want them to know how much we appreciate
it.”
Family and friends are pitching in to help, including
Jamie Wood in plumbing and Pat Martin in electrical plus Ricky Goodman
and others painting, and businesses like Lowe’s Home Improvement,
State Drywall and Martin Electric are helping in the house remodel. The
girls on Tiffany’s softball team are planning a tournament in her
honor. And the Ashe County community is gearing up for a fundraiser on
Saturday (see related story).
“People say, how in the
world do you deal with it?” Lisa said. “Well, you deal with
it. You have to. It’s hard, but you do what you have to do.
Tiffany is real positive. She has kept her spirit up and her faith up.
She has met people in worse shape than she is, like a soldier from Iraq
who got shot trying to save his buddy and then contracted spinal
meningitis. They met at a Valentine dance in their wheelchairs. Tiffany
was inspired by him and the others. She wants to be a witness for God
and to make people aware of the importance of wearing your seat belt. I
would like people to be aware of their car insurance liability.
Tiffany’s expenses are topping $200,000. Know what your insurance
coverages are and how they are paid. It’s been a learning
experience for us. The bills add up really fast.”
Tiffany
has received many, many cards while in the hospital. They have come
from all over the country. A box of cards handmade by children came
from a church in Virginia Beach. “Tiffany gets real emotional
over the care people have shown her,” Lisa said. “She just
cried and cried at those cards. She said, �When I get out of here I
want to go to Virginia Beach and meet those kids,’ and I’ll
take her there. It’s been amazing, it really has.”
Copyright © 2008 - Jefferson Post
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