Katie Green, GPC Student
It was a bright, Alabama Saturday morning in June of 1973, and John Ray had decided to bring his six-year-old son’s tee ball team up to his lake house, in Hayden Alabama, for a summer picnic that following Sunday. The sprawling, one hundred and forty acre, lakeside property was badly in need of having the grass mowed, but the friendly neighbor who usually maintains the yard was working that day. John had no choice but to handle the huge task on his own. His wife, Louise, a thirty- four year old real estate agent was unable to accompany him because she had to work. So, he ventured to the house alone, and determined to complete the enormous chore that lay before him.
After driving down the flat, winding, driveway with the red brick wall guarding it on either side, John saw the massive, red, bush- hog tractor waiting for its next use. He pulled the dirty, intimidating contraption out of the rickety shed, jumped on, and began mowing the one hundred acres of dry, relentless vegetation. As he cut toward the front of the three bedroom house, near the driveway, he made sure to cautiously watch behind him to ensure the bush hog was operating correctly. Suddenly, the front of the daunting tractor hit the concrete driveway’s solid brick wall and began to tip over. Terrified that the crimson tractor would flip over completely, John wildly attempted to jump off of it, trying escape being brutally crushed or wounded by it. As he leaped, the mower viciously pulled him underneath it, and began to massacre his large body.
Deafening screams for help echoed throughout the wooded area, and sparked the attention of his neighbor’s elderly mother. Thinking that it was her loving son, the normal groundskeeper, the seventy-six year old, gray haired, grandmotherly woman hobbled toward the gruesome screams as fast as she could manage. As she cautiously approached, it was obvious that it was John who had been almost completely sliced in half by the cruel machinery. Amazingly, he was still conscious, although he was bleeding profusely and had been grotesquely disemboweled. After calling 911, the elderly woman strenuously staggered up the half- mile long driveway and into the country road to flag people for help. All she could do now was hope that John would survive until the life saving ambulance arrived.
It was evident to the expert paramedics that John, although still conscious, was on the brink of death. Due to the extreme severity of the injuries, the red and white ambulance raced to the closest treatment facility, Nolan Hospital. John, knowing that Nolan did not have the high level of trauma expertise that was needed to save his fleeting life, strongly insisted upon going to University Hospital in Birmingham. Unbelievably, he would rather take the likely chance of dying during the seventy- five-minute ride to Birmingham, than settle for the unprepared Emergency Room of a lesser hospital. The stunned paramedics obeyed and they continued onto the requested location, where John was immediately admitted and the physicians began performing vital emergency surgery to save his precious life.
Louise, who had been out all day showing real estate, slowly pulled up to her ranch style, brick home in Vestavia, Alabama, and she noticed her panicked, thirty-something neighbors running toward her. In horror, they sadly informed her of the vague details they knew about the bush- hog accident and drove her and her son, John Jr. to the well-known hospital. Still in shock, they arrived to a huge gathering of supporters. Friends, family and members of the tee ball team filled the enormous cafeteria and hospital halls as everyone impatiently waited for the doctor’s next update on John’s uncertain, critical condition.
After being in the sterile operating room from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, the exhausted physicians finally emerged with positive news. Although his spleen and part of his intestines were removed, and he had a huge, gaping cavity in his back, John had survived through the lengthy surgery remarkably. He would have to stay in the hospital, but they felt that he was out of the woods for the time being. Over the next two, long years, John remained in the hospital, undergoing thirteen additional surgeries. Including an ileostomy, an operation where the small intestine is attached to the abdominal wall and to a bag that is worn outside of the body. At first, Louise attempted to continue selling real estate but after a short time, it became too difficult. She yearned to be by her husband’s loving side at all times, so she quit her job and sent John Jr. to live with her Sister-in-law, Jane. Although sending her only son to live with someone else was a difficult decision, she needed someone to responsibly take care of him and hopefully shield him from some of the unbearable stress and sadness.
After the first year of John’s hospitalization, Louise had drastically dropped down to a dangerously low weight and her health was suffering. The sorrow and tension were becoming too much for her to handle. One of John’s physicians had begun to notice, and told her that she did not need to be at John’s side constantly. Following his wise advice, she got a full time job working for a doctor’s office from seven thirty in the morning to six o’clock in the evening. Then she would stay with John from six p.m. until four a.m., and return home for a quick shower and tiredly go to work the next morning. Incredibly, she continued this exhausting schedule for the next year.
In 1975, John was finally discharged from University Hospital, and although he still had the ileostomy bag, he was ecstatic to be released. He spent the next five years returning to the hospital only on an outpatient basis. Thankful to have his remarkable life back, he strived to live every precious day to its fullest. He became the president of the hospital’s “Ostomy Club”, a wonderful organization that teaches people how to handle having an ileostomy. Occasionally, he would go into his office and work at the insurance company that he owned. It finally felt like John was getting his fantastic, normal life back.
Then, in 1980, a doctor recommended that John have the ileostomy reversed, and with only a three percent risk factor, he assumed it was almost flawless. Even though previous physicians told John that the vast amount of scar tissue occupying his body would complicate any further surgeries, he agreed. Terrified by the nightmarish thought of losing her beloved husband, Louise was shocked and saddened by John’s choice. Once again, Louise was forced to endure heartbreaking depression and anxiety.
All too soon, the day of the reversal surgery arrived and the couple, anxious about the outcome, could barely utter a word to one another. Once the surgery had been completed, it was clear that something was intensely wrong. John spent fifty- three agonizing days in the hospital and underwent four unexpected surgeries. Once again, in danger of losing his renewed life, he bravely hoped that he would survive the surgeries and be released. But, sadly, due to unforeseen complications, he contracted parasitis, which led to Crohn’s disease and eventual renal failure. Louise’s terrifying fears had been undeniably confirmed. At thirty –nine years old, her wonderful, loving husband heartbreakingly passed away on his fifty third day in the hospital.
This assignment has been the most challenging by far, but also the most fascinating. After asking Louise, a strong, wonderful woman, to be my subject for this project, and hearing this unbelievable story, not only did I gain a high respect for her, but an admiration for her and John’s courage. Unknowingly, she taught me about the strength of undying love, commitment, and determination.