Tender Mercies

Scary!

On February 18th, President's Day, Cade and his buddies Noah and Josh headed up to the mountain to meet friends for another fun day of snowboarding/skiing.  They have done this multiple times this year as they all  have season passes. My big fear this year has been allowing Cade to drive up and down the mountain.  He is a new driver and the road can be very icy and scary.  So I was shocked when I got a phone call around noon because it was too early to come home so there should have been no car accident.

After this day was over, I learned of several tender mercies along the way.  First of all, it was amazing that I even found our home phone on that initial call and answered it with a unknown number. On the other end of the line was Noah.  He said, "Sister Shirley Cade has crashed on a jump and I think he needs an ambulance. He hurt his back and we are waiting for ski patrol." Noah proceeded to tell me that Cade could feel his legs but they went numb for a little bit and he couldn't stand.  I honestly didn't know how to react.  He was going to call me again when they got to the health bay in the lodge.  Meanwhile, I couldn't wait.  I called Dave at work and we flew up the mountain. 

I later learned that Cade's friend Mary was there and saw the accidient and had her phone.  None of his friends phones had service up there but Mary's for 3 minutes that whole entire day right at that time.  I also found out that after Cade got hurt he couldn't remember our home or cell number.  Noah happened to remember our home number and called me.  This was another tender mercy because who remembers phone numbers anymore when they are all logged in our cell phones!  I also discovered that a ski patrol guy was on the lift and saw his crash off the table top jump and knew it was bad and called for help immediately.  The ambulance was there super fast and Cade was put on a backboard and tobaggoned down to lodge.  Meanwhile, Dave and I were driving up the mountain worried with minimal cell service.  I finally got in touch with ski patrol for an update.  The ambulance waited for us to get there and then I was able to ride down the mountain with Cade in ambulance.  It was a very painful ride as he felt every tiny little bump in the road.  Dr. Heymore (the ER Dr.) met us in the ER, which was nice to see a friendly ward member's face.  After spending the afternoon getting x-rays and getting his pain in control he was cleared of a broken back and sent home. 

The first few days were very rough as he really couldn't walk.  His lower back was huge and so swollen that we couldn't see his spine for weeks.  He used crutches for the first week and just drug his legs behind him. He missed a week of school and then tried it for a few hours a day.  He has had great friends who have shown such concern.  They have brought tons of goodies for him, visited him often and even hung a One Direction Poster above his bed so he would smile when he went to sleep. Four weeks later and he is now finally walking normally with most of the pain being gone.  He has truly been blessed and watched over.  

Cade's version.  He went of the table top jump that he had been going off for the past few weeks.  Each time trying to get more and more air.  This last time he was going way too fast on the take off and got off balance.  He landed right on his lower back and then slid 40 feet.  He got the wind knocked out of him.  He went numb from his waist down for seconds.  His friends tried to stand him up after accident and he couldn't bare any weight and fell down.  He hated the ambulance ride! He was very grateful for friends and family and prayers.

After we had got home that evening, I decided to call my mom and dad and tell them what had happened before my mom saw something on facebook. (My parents are in a mission in Argentina).  I did not hear back from my mom for 2 days.  2 days later she called and said she got my message, although my message was very distorted because it goes straight to her email not voicemail so she didn't really now what had happened.  She preceded to tell me that they had just got back from a few day temple trip to Buenos Aires with a member who had just taken out his endowments.  She said while in the temple she had the strongest impression to put Cade's name on the prayer roll.   She didn't know why but the impression just kept coming to her.  I was so grateful  that she was living close to the spirit and not only did she listen but she acted on the prompting.  Another tender mercy.  I know that prayers make a difference and I thank my Heavenly Father for his protection of my son.