It Just so Happened

By Violet Sutton

It Just So Happened is the story of how, against all odds, Darrick Lareva came through a series of amazing miracles to survive a horrendous car accident on the way home from Bible college for Christmas break.

You will cry, and also rejoice, as you read through the narrative of miracles that occurred during his recovery. Here is an example: His mother needed to make many phone calls. She bought a prepaid calling card, but before she could use it, someone gave her one. Then someone gave her another and another and another. She never did use her calling card while she was in the hospital with Darrick.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543411577

Violet Sutton

Violet Sutton has enjoyed writing all her life. She has written her family history for relatives, called “Home Sweet Home” and numerous short stories for Grandchildren. Her first published book was called “Let’s Go Flying”. The second book, “Poetry Potpourri” was published by Xlibris Press. She has also written a booklet called “Grieving- a primer for those left behind”, written after her husband passed away. She now resides in Florida with her furry side-kick, Jewel.

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Copyright © 2017 by Violet Sutton.

ISBN:      Softcover           978-1-5434-1158-4

                eBook               978-1-5434-1157-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 03/31/2017

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The Accident

Chapter 2 Arrival In Maine

Chapter 3 Visitors

Chapter 4 Rolland Arrives

Chapter 5 Leaving Maine

Chapter 6 Return To Grand Rapids

Chapter 7 Settling In

Chapter 8 Getting Better

Chapter 9 More Surgery

Chapter 10 The Next Step

Chapter 11 Sojourner’s

Chapter 12 More Healing

Chapter 13 Back To School

Chapter 14 The Preacher

Chapter 15 The Rest Of The Story

IT JUST SO HAPPENED

The story of Darrick Lareva’s Christmas adventure as described by Violet Sutton and Diane (Lareva) Abbott a.k.a Darrick’s Mom

This book is dedicated to God.

Without Him, there would be no miraculous recovery.

There would be no dedicated preacher to tell the stories

of the miracles. Without Him, Darrick would not have a

loving wife and three beautiful children. So, to God be

the glory, and honor, and praise!

CHAPTER ONE

The Accident

We are told to remember the Maine (a ship), to remember the Alamo (a fort in Texas), Pearl Harbor (the attack that brought on the second World War), and to remember September 11, 2001 (the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York), when our lives were changed forever. I don’t know about you, but my life was not changed that much. I felt sorry for the people who were killed, and their families, but, overall, it didn’t affect me much. I had to pay more for my gasoline, but I’d done that before. I needed to be at the airport a little earlier than usual if I was going to travel, but I didn’t travel that much either. The day that changed my family’s life forever was December 14, 2002. Isn’t it strange how, when we are affected ourselves, it is then that our world changes? My life-changing moment happened, and I didn’t even know about it.

My grandson, Darrick Lareva, was on his way home from Bethany Bible College in Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada. We (my husband and I) were enjoying a big Christmas dinner and gift exchange at our daughter’s home in Grand Haven, Michigan. As we were heading home we talked about how Darrick would be home on Sunday. And, hopefully, he would have good driving conditions. Darrick was a good driver, but sometimes the driving conditions are not ideal, and we wanted safety for him. Several classmates were riding with him, so they would take turns driving. That way, they figured they could be home Sunday evening with no trouble.

As it turned out, the weather was not good. Snow and slush covered the highway. One of his classmates was driving. Darrick was resting before taking his turn at the wheel. The car hit some slush with black ice underneath. The car skidded, then hit a dry spot, tipped on its side, then back on its wheels, continued across the road, knocked down several small trees, and then slammed into a larger tree on the passenger’s side. Darrick’s head made contact with the window of the car, and then, ultimately, with a tree. The time was 3:00 P.M.

It just so happened the car following them was filled with several medical personnel. They were on their way home from a convention, so help was immediate. The police arrived within five minutes and the ambulance within ten minutes. Darrick was breathing okay when the ambulance arrived, but his breathing deteriorated rapidly. The emergency people inserted an airway at the scene.

Everyone in the car was wearing their seat belts, so no one was seriously injured except Darrick. One of the girls had both her feet broken. She was on the passenger side in the back seat. The other passengers, including the driver, were shaken and bruised, but nothing was broken. They were treated and released from the small town of Skowhagen, Maine. Skowhagen is about fifty miles west of Bangor, Maine. The girl with the broken feet was taken to Bangor for treatment.

When Darrick arrived at Skowhagen Hospital (after having the jaws of life free him from the vehicle), they realized at once they could do nothing for him. They did give him a larger airway, and a drug that paralyzed him so he wouldn’t move while he was being transported to Bangor. They would have liked to have used a helicopter, but the weather was too bad, so they had to drive the fifty miles to Eastern Maine Medical Services in Bangor, Maine. It was a miracle he survived the trip.

While all this was going on, we (my husband, myself and Darrick’s mother, who was in Little Rock, Arkansas), were still blissfully ignorant of the things that had transpired.

Darrick arrived at Eastern Maine Medical in very critical condition. His head had hit a tree, and trees don’t give. The right side of his skull was broken in many places and there was also a lot of clotted blood. They took him in for a CT scan but stopped immediately and rushed him into surgery. They didn’t know who he was or who would pay the bill; they just knew he was a young man in trouble, and, if he was going to live, they would have to do some serious stuff. During the surgery they removed pieces of skull bone along with glass and blood clots. The doctor later said that if Darrick hadn’t been a young male, they wouldn’t have tried to save him. When they were through with surgery, he had a respirator breathing for him, a tube for liquids (feeding), a blood pressure cuff, and a line in his head to measure brain pressure. There were other numerous lines and tubes as well.

The people in Michigan and Arkansas are still blissfully ignorant of what has happened.

The night before (Saturday), Diane and her husband Rolland were at a Christmas party at the condo where they were staying in Little Rock, Arkansas. Diane had a weird feeling that something was wrong. They finally left the party, and, as soon as they walked in the door, Diane checked the cellphone as well as e-mail. Finding nothing, she figured she was just being anxious because Darrick was on his way home, and she was just doing what moms do when their children are coming home from a long distance. She went to bed, went to sleep and slept well.

Now it is about 9 A.M. in Fremont, Michigan. The phone rings at our house. It is a man from Fremont Wesleyan Church.