Thursday, December 04, 2008
Heros...
Last night I had dinner with a hero. A co-worker, Ellie Celeste, had her “coming out” of sorts, 2 days after returning home from her hospital and rehabilitation for the 2nd time. Eighteen friends gathered to celebrate with her and celebrate we did. But first, some background.
Ellie is a sixty something lady, originally from New York City, who loves horses, dogs and people. Not always in that order. For years she has bred and trained horses, mostly Lipizzaners, some of which have made their way into well known shows featuring these beautiful animals.
Additionally, she operated stables and a carriage ride business in New York City, and after moving to Florida about 10 years ago she again boarded horses and offered riding classes for kids, specializing in therapeutic riding. Her dream was to do this full time when she retired from the Postal Service.
That all changed on February 16, 2008. On that day Ellie was returning from the Lady Lake Post Office about noon after conducting a test on the mail. Traveling across Florida on Highway 42 east of Weirsdale, a trip she had made many times, Ellie was ever alert.
Though this route is the shortest path from her home office in Daytona Beach to Lady Lake, it is also wrought with potential peril. Twisting through the rolling hills of central Florida, Highway 42 is loaded with blind turns, unseen roads and driveways emptying into it and traffic snarled by the slow pace often punctuated by impatient drivers taking terrible chances.
This particular February Saturday was bright and sunny; the temperature was in the low 70’s, the rolling countryside covered with scrub oaks in their winter dormancy punctuated with the deep greens of pine and cedar. It was a perfect example of Florida’s best time of the year. As Ellie drove she thought of her plans later that day. Caring for her horses, riding classes, it was a great to be alive!
Little known to Ellie, at that moment, Jeremy Halfacre and his passenger Ray Jenkins were racing her way. Halfacre was at the wheel of a borrowed lease car which he wasn’t authorized to drive on his suspended license.
Halfacre had minutes earlier rolled through a stop sign in Eustis. A sheriff’s deputy, observing the violation, gave pursuit until he saw the reckless manner of Halfacre’s driving. Little did the officer know that in addition to the minor traffic violation, Halfacre was wanted on a drug charge, that’s why he sped from the officer’s pursuit.
Halfacre merged off of County Road 450 onto Highway 42 and was headed her way at over 90 miles per hour. While the officer had long since stopped his pursuit, the driver of a forest service truck, listening to the officer’s exchange with his dispatcher, observed Halfacre’s car as it passed and followed at a distance to keep him in sight.
Halfacre, thinking he was still being pursued, sped away, swerving in and out of traffic. He came up behind some motorcyclists out for a leisurely ride and cut into the oncoming lane just as Ellie’s car rounded the curve. Halfacre swerved and his car, sliding sideways at 70 miles per hour, slammed into Ellie’s postal car at a combined impact speed of 130mph. Jenkins was killed instantly.
The impact crushed the 2006 Chevy Malibu Ellie was driving, ramming the steering wheel into her chest, breaking 3 ribs and puncturing her lungs. The seat frame slammed into her spine fracturing it. As the floorboard collapsed, her legs had nowhere to go and the bones in her legs and her knees were shattered, her right femur breaking through the skin and jamming itself into the console.
Glass from Jenkins’ car and her windshield peppered her with lacerations, embedding itself such that months later Ellie was still finding pieces rising to the surface of her hands, arms and face. Through it all, she remained conscious and alert.
If not for the air bag, Ellie would have died. There were times in the coming weeks when she wished she had, but right now she was trapped and just wanted out. The forest service employee probably saved her life by staunching the blood flow from torn arteries.
Miraculously paramedics were nearby the location of this deeply rural accident scene and they rushed to provide immediate care while other emergency workers raced to dismantle the Malibu with the “Jaws of Life.” The doors and roof had to come off the crushed car before Ellie’s mangled body could be extracted and air lifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
While the doctors at ORMC worked feverishly to save her life, Ellie lay in a semi-conscious state and down the hall, the man who had inflicted this insult to her body was himself receiving medical care.
Come back in a few days for the rest of the story.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: accident, Ellie, emergency, hero, jaws of life, Orlando Regional Medical Center, ORMC, postal, Postal Service
