Chris Oconnor
This message goes out to you. I feel your pain of the accident you witnesed and I thank you for your compassion at the scene. I am a family friend and I want you to know that he has survived 3 days and got through some very critical moments and he is fighting, he has a very long road ahead of him. He has alot of love and prayers surrounding him all the time. You were a gaurdian angel on the scene that day and we thank you. God Bless you.

Hi Chris,

My husband and I are volunteers with highway rescue. I do dispatch, but my husband is on scene.

I have a bit of advice for you: contact your local victim services, make an appointment, at least one, and talk to someone. Even the professionals need this for particularly heartwrenching accident scenes.
This definitely qualifies.

Do some research on post-traumatic stress disorder. Write down the symptoms, and give a copy to a close friend. Both of you look at them once a week for the next few months, to check how you are doing. If you start showing symptoms, get help immediately.

As for the young boy's family, you might write a letter, and give it to the funeral home holding the service, or if you find out the name of a relative or close family friend through the obituaries, give it to them. Write that you were on the scene, that the boy was unconscious (wasn't suffering). That help came quickly. That there were people there with him, talking to him, etc. (Assuming all this is true, of course).

The person you give the letter to will be able to judge if the family needs something like this, and when they are ready for it. A close friend lost her teenage son in a vehicle accident, and a letter similar to this written by a first responder was a huge comfort to her.

Take care Chris.

Hotcoffee29

I appreciate the update as this has been bothering me tremendously. Any future information you can offer would be quite nice. And I gave several people at the scene my business card. Please feel free to call if that is easier. Again, thank you. It is really good to hear that he is pulling through this, but I'd like to know his condition too.

qwaszxter

My husband and I are volunteers with highway rescue. I do dispatch, but my husband is on scene.

This is quite a service to society. I'm not sure how much appreciation you're shown, but please know that you are appreciated. I'm too emotional of a person to be able to deal with being involved at such a level, but I'm sure glad there are people like you and your husband.

I have a bit of advice for you: contact your local victim services, make an appointment, at least one, and talk to someone. Even the professionals need this for particularly heartwrenching accident scenes.
This definitely qualifies.

I might take your advice if I seem to be suffering from PTSD. Right now I am going through so many traumatic things that I'm not sure which one is kicking my butt the worse. My father is dying a slow death from lung cancer. In late September I was in a very bad car accident where an underage drunk girl slammed into the back of my car at an estimated 80mph. I actually saw the car coming but couldn't move. My wife was in the car directly in front of me and she might have been killed if I moved. And now I witness this young boy hit by a car. None of these things is enough to do me in, but when you combine them all I feel like I'm in some sort of nightmare. In fact I am having some serious sleep problems where I wake up seeing that car coming at me in my rear view mirror, or I hear the impact sound of this kids head on the windshield of the car next to me.

As for the young boy's family, you might write a letter, and give it to the funeral home holding the service, or if you find out the name of a relative or close family friend through the obituaries, give it to them.

According to the above poster the boy is alive. I'm hoping that the person that made that post is genuine and a real family member. You never know on the web. It sounds genuine to me.

Write that you were on the scene, that the boy was unconscious (wasn't suffering).

This is definitely true. He was instantly unconscious. And he was breathing on his own. Damn he was hurt though. Even now I don't know of anything I could do to help. I just knelt there with the guy that hit him and tried to think rationally and make smart decisions. I'm trained in First Aid and CPR, but neither trains you for an open head wound where the actual skull is broken. You can't put a splint or bandage on a cracked open cranium. I am quite convinced I was looking at his brain at the wound site. And you don't dare move him because his back could be broken. He was breathing and the guy that hit him did his best to make sure his airway was unobstructed. I was rather relieved to see him respond so quickly and calmly and rationally.

I just couldn't think of anything more to do. He needed the paramedics to arrive, flip him onto his back as safely as they are trained to flip injured people, intubate him, and give him O2 and an IV and probably blood, and get him into surgery fast. What could I do? I just felt helpless.

That help came quickly. That there were people there with him, talking to him, etc. (Assuming all this is true, of course).

Yes, they were there really fast. And everyone there was very helpful.

The person you give the letter to will be able to judge if the family needs something like this, and when they are ready for it. A close friend lost her teenage son in a vehicle accident, and a letter similar to this written by a first responder was a huge comfort to her.

In the event that this child doesn't survive I'll do everything I can to comfort the family. I was there and witnessed the entire accident. I never left until the kid was already in surgery. I couldn't leave even if I wanted to as my car was inside the yellow crime scene tape.

I am really hoping that he pulls through this so he can be back up on a new bike someday. And when he does I'd like to buy him a helmet. They make very cool shapes and colors for helmets now.

Hi Chris,

(This is qwaszxter - I've emailed you about the name mixup).

With the sleep problems and the nightmares, it sounds like you ARE suffering from some level of PTSD.

I can't encourage you enough to contact Victim Services. Please make a commitment to do so as soon as you can. That is what they are there for.

If you'd broken your arm in the accident, you wouldn't have hesitated to seek help - please give your mental health the same consideration.

I'll echo what the others' have said Chris and recommend that you go to see someone about your situation. From what you've described I'd say there's a good chance you're having problems with PTSD.

Chris,
I have read your new post and from some first responders who have wrote to you regarding getting advice for PTSD, I agree that this may be helpful to you in order for you to handle the emotions you are dealing with as it sounds like you have had a rough time recently. Please be assured my response to you regarding his condition is true and genuine. I didn't give too much detail because of privacy and confidentiality for the family, but he has now made it through day 4, its a roller coaster, he is not out of the woods yet but he is stable, the extent of his injuries will not be known for some time but atleast he is alive, and has made it past the first 72 hours. I will add you to our prayers as we continue to pray for everyone involved in this terrible accident.

Chris - I am so sorry to hear of your recent trauma - sometimes, a moderate depression is designed to slow you down enough to protect you, to let you heal. Let those around you help - its your turn - and later, when you're ready. look for heroes who've come out the other side, turned their pain to beauty, so to speak. One of my favorites is at http://www.CaroleEstrup.com/frankjamesmorgan.html
Be kind to yourself and be well -

I got a call from the Uncle on Anthony Remon and he left me some information of my voice mail. It seems Anthony was in a coma for at least the first few days, but is now out of it. The rest of the detail of his condition will remain private as I'm not sure he wants such intimate detail shared with the world.

As the owner of the community I think it is important to sometimes explain why I'm not around at times. Right now I'm going through a very difficult time. I don't know how many members will read this post, but I'll make it a "sticky topic" in the Introduce Yourself! forum for a short while. I'm not posting this message for sympathy or to elicit replies, but as the owner of BookTalk I am expected to be involved in various aspects of the community that I just cannot handle right now.

After I type this message I am heading to the Veterans Hospice where my father is soon to die. He has been battling lung cancer for 2.5 years and now he is at the end of the road. I'm not sure if today is his last day or if he will survive a few more, but the time is near and I need to be by his side and not on BookTalk. We are more like best friends than simply father and son. Please be understanding of this and don't expect me to be able to work on creating book polls for our upcoming books.

If anyone is willing do take the initiative and create a book discussion thread to select our next fiction and non-fiction books I'd sure appreciate the help. If you've been around BookTalk.org for a while you know how we discuss suggestions and then select a popular book for discussion. I will step back from this process and trust one or more of you to handle this while I am physically and mentally distant from BookTalk over the next week or more.

I'd like the people that handle the book selection to have at least 50 posts on our forums and to be relatively active in actual book discussions. Please just use common sense, but don't be afraid of screwing up. Just go for it. Create some discussion threads and as a group come to a group conclusion about what we should all read next.

Anyone who helps me with this will be extremely appreciated. I'll send some brand new books to them to show my appreciation. Thanks you all in advance for being understanding. I'm leaving now to be with my father and will probably not be responding to emails and posts till I feel capable. I know that many of you have been through the death of a mother or father so what I'm experiencing is nothing foreign to you. But right now it is my dad and I'm quite a mess.