Early morning sunrises are one of my favorites things to watch. On this day, as we depart from the hanger at 6:45 am, the moon is still out. As we take off and begin climbing, the sun was waiting it’s turn to burst through the clouds at 21,000 feet. Simply stunning. Today we will be transporting 23 yr. old Ben from Charleston, SC to Atlanta, Ga.
Ben is a Purdue graduate with a degree in selling and marketing. He is a territory manager for Ecolabs in Raleigh, NC. Ben has one brother, Carl and a sister-in-law Stacy. They live in Dallas. Ben’s parents, Paul and Sherry live in Westfield, IN. They are a close knit, fun loving, outgoing, dog loving family.
Ben had just got a new Aussie/poodle puppy named Max two weeks before his accident. The puppy is now staying with his Mom and Dad until he recovers.
Being very spontaneous, he decided to drive to Charleston for the day and visit a college roommate. As they were walking home that night, Ben was struck by an SUV.
He suffered multiple fractures and has a traumatic brain injury. His brother and sister-in-law flew in and his parents drove to Charleston as soon as they got word of his accident.
Shelli had been working with his parents the past few days to work out the details of Ben’s transfer and it was a warm welcome from them as we arrived at the hospital. You could tell Ben was a little restless and knew something was going on, as the hospital and ambulance transport crew loaded Ben onto the cot.
His Dad held his hand and talked softly to him, reassuring him that it was ok and that they would see him when he got to Atlanta.
They would be leaving as soon as we left and driving to Shepherd Rehabilitation Center in Atlanta.
The ride to the airport was short and we were met by Hal who prayed over him before he was loaded into Nellie.
Flight time was brief and Ben was awake most of the flight.
We were greeted at Shepherd with many smiles and friendly hellos. As Ben was getting settled in his new room, we prayed for him again before we returned to the airport.
Ben’s road to recovery will be a long one and his family is praying for him to become stable enough to get him back to Indiana for continued rehab near them.
They make the drive every weekend from Indiana to South Carolina and it is very weary on them, not to mention hard to not be able to be with their son everyday. This morning, his Dad wrote on his Caringbridge site…”Georgia on my mind.”
Please continue to lift Ben and his family up in prayers.
Psalm 46:10
“Be still and know that I am God”
Thank you to Hal, Shelli and Eric for sharing this mission with me.