Perry Kavros
Senior Heliman
Location: San Jose, CA
| A Note from Sherry and DaveGood evening to all our dear family and friends,
We want to thank all of you for your concern, calls, thoughts, and prayers for Dave after his terrible accident on Sunday. As you can imagine, it was such a huge shock when we first heard about the accident, especially since I had only spoken to him a few short hours earlier. It still seems so unreal to me.
After spending these past four days in Saint Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix - so far away from home, family and friends, we are both so happy to be home.
Just to get everyone caught up on Dave's condition, Dave has a 5-6 inch gash on the top of his head that he got from the roof of the truck (we think). It basically cut a large flap of his scalp that needed to be stapled (and yes according to Dave, it felt as bad as it sounds). He has twelve staples in all and a few stitches - so it was quite a huge gash. They shaved his hair where the cut is, but luckily it is growing back quickly. He has two black eyes, one of which the white of his eye is all blood red. His sight is okay though, and there will not be any lasting complications - it just looks yucky. As for his neck - originally, they thought he had a broken neck, but after a CAT scan and an MRI, they've determined that he has no fractures - thank God! However, his neck is extremely tender - because of bruised and pulled muscles. While Dave was there, he was always on a heart monitor. The monitor showed that Dave had an irregular heart beat, so additional tests were ordered to make sure that he didn't bruise his heart in the accident. After a sonigram of his heart, they now believe that he may have already had this condition and like millions of other people, he is fine - it's just how his heart operates. He also has several other cuts, bruises and scrapes, and swelling. Dave will be getting around a little more slowly for a little while as he heals, but luckily he is at least healing.
Regarding the vehicles - we are still waiting to hear about the truck and trailer's fate. The truck will be taken to Colton, CA to be inspected and to determine by Allstate if it can be repaired or not. I have my doubts by looking at the pictures and knowing what it has gone through (rolled a few times) - but it was only one year old, and they may want to attempt to fix it. The trailer is being taken back to Phoenix to also be evaluated. If the truck is totaled, we will replace it with a truck pretty much like that one. Dave was so happy with it - he feels that considering what it went through it held up wonderfully. The trailer however is another story. The trailer's shaking when a large truck or vehicle passed by was not a new thing. It was a problem we went through great cost and care to minimize. Unfortunately, the sway bars, stabalizer bars and the heavy duty hitch were unable to contain the problem this time, especially in the heavy winds and the speeding trucks (causing severe wind turbulance). We will be doing some research on the Terry 29' trailers to see if others have reported similar problems. Either way, if it is totaled or not, we will be seriously considering changing to a 5th wheel trailer which is more stable.
Dave Perry and Fernando will be going to Phoenix (by airplane) in the next week or so to salvage anything they can. They plan to rent a U-Haul truck out there and drive it and whatever can be salvaged back to the bay area. This is of course pending Dave's condition.
THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU!
There are a several people that I would like to give a special thanks to: friends, Doug Wilson and his wife Diana, for being there at the scene of the accident and helping to take care of Dave and Phil until help arrived. I cannot even imagine the thoughts that were going through your mind when this was all happening. I am so truly relieved that you were there for Dave and Phil, and that you were able to help Phil get home. I really appreciate your taking the pictures of accident scene, because this will undoubtably help with trying to repair or replace what is left of our belongings and to make some sense of just what exactly had occured. Thank you also for contacting Perry Kavros who finally got ahold of me.
I want to thank our dear friend Perry for quickly locating me and letting me know what had happened. You have been there for me from the beginning with your calming words and assuring voice. I was able to take in the information (without coming unglued myself) and get to Dave as quickly as possible. You've been a Godsend and a wonderful friend. Thank you for getting the word out to our mutual friends and for sharing the info of where people could see the Doug's pictures.
Laurie & Steve, thank you for helping me get the plane reservations and getting to the airport that night and all your help, love and support.
My parents, for being there for us and helping me get through all this, giving me advice, and especially for keeping the family informed of Dave's progress.
Belinha and Fernando, Thanks to you both for being the great supportive friends you are. Belinha, for calling my mother and father in-law to let them know in Portuguese what had happend when I was unable to reach Diane at that time. I didn't want to panic them unnecessarily, but they needed to know. And for keeping our friends updated on Dave's progress.
To those of you who may have been unaware of the accident until this email, I sincerely apologize. We had a great network of friends and family trying to get the word out to as many people as possible, but somehow you were missed.
To all our dear family and friends who continue to offer your assistance, your prayers, and your kind words - You mean the world to us - and we are so blessed that you are a part of our lives. I can't imagine our lives without you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. With love and sincere gratitude Always,
Sherry, Dave, Paul and Heather
For those of you who have not seen the pictures - the website link is below:
http://www.accidentresearch.com/graphics/dave/ |
