Ridgeview News sent out an invitation on social media yesterday for parents of the bus accident victims to let us know how their child is doing. I think it’s important as a community that we respect the privacy of these families, I’m sure they’ve gotten hundreds of questions from concerned friends and families and grow weary of reciting it and perhaps reliving it. But as a community, a piece of our own hearts were involved in the accident knowing that these families are suffering. Our concern is genuine and our prayers are forthcoming. The names will remain unlisted, but I’ll publish the updates if and when they come in.
The first parent to submit an update is the mother of a 13 year old, 7th grade student. Her telling of the incident is brief but conveys the angst, the extent of how seriously this effected those involved and continued concerns felt by this family. I appreciate her willingness to help us understand how we can pray.
Her mother stated that “she suffered a concussion, which wasn’t diagnosed until a couple days later, and a soft tissue injury. She had bruising as well from where she hit the seat across the aisle when she landed.
Her physical injuries are mostly healed. She still gets headaches from the concussion, and she’s learning what triggers them. Thankfully, the headaches aren’t as frequent now.
She rides the bus to school in the morning only if she can sit in the front (she was in a seat near the back during the accident) and because she trusts her regular driver (her words). She hasn’t rode the activity bus since the accident.
My perspective as a parent — One of the absolute worst things is not knowing how your kid is. The lack of cell service in the southern half of the county as we waited at the bus stop along the main road meant we didn’t know about the accident until 10-15 minutes after it happened. All we knew then was the bus wrecked and was on its side. It was another 10 minutes before we were in cell service and we found out more details.
Honestly, two of the hardest days of my life were that night and walking into the classroom that Wednesday and seeing the empty seats of some of the bus kids. I’m a substitute teacher and had been subbing for over a week in a middle school classroom. I had half the kids on that bus in my class that day. Then arriving at the scene and seeing some on backboards surrounded by EMTs and not knowing how bad they were injured was awful. They’re not my biological kids, but they’re my kids at school and I love them all. In my mind, those 2 days will always be parallel to when I was teaching on 9/11 and 9/12.
