By Brenna Wiegand
Janine Nelson was nearing her job at Providence Benedictine Nursing Center – a little early, as usual – on Mt. Angel Highway the morning of July 21. She hadn’t been back to work all that long, but it appeared her son Jefferey was on the mend after his heart transplant a few months earlier. Chances are, she was thinking about how enjoyable her job was; the people with whom she’d worked for the past 14 years, and how lucky she was that while at work, she could always see her mom, Diane Gwyn, who’d been a resident there for the past four years after she had a stroke in 2000.
But whatever Nelson may have been thinking was obliterated along with any recollection of the entire morning when she was involved in a head-on collision near the intersection of Dahl Road.
Before long Nelson would become a resident at the nursing center herself.
The center’s home health nurse was traveling just behind Nelson and administered aid until the LifeFlight helicopter arrived to transport her to Oregon Health Sciences University.
In the crash, Nelson, 40, suffered a broken femur and two fractured knees, including the loss of her kneecap. She also endured a compound fracture to the face in which “my whole chin was fractured off” and a skull fracture just below one eye. Nelson also hopes something can be done about the large laceration to her lip.
Two teeth were lost; doctors are watching to see if any more are going to give way. Meanwhile, her mandible has been reattached with plates and screws.
A CAT scan revealed Nelson’s carotid artery had been injured and that she’d also had an inner cranial bleed.
Understandably, Nelson’s speech is affected and she can still only eat soft food.
“It’s going to be a long process; we have to wait for it all to heal and they can’t proceed on some things until others mend,” she said.
The other vehicle was driven by Sister Rocio Moreno Soto, 48, of the Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel. She, too, was taken from the scene by LifeFlight, but to Emanuel Legacy Hospital in Portland. The nun suffered broken arms and legs and has since undergone five surgeries. Sister Donna Marie Chartraw, Prioress of the monastery, said Sister Rocio’s condition is improving.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office has not yet released findings on the cause of the crash, estimated at a relative impact of 100 miles per hour based on the combined speeds of both vehicles.
“I would like to know why this happened,” Nelson said. “It’d be a lot easier to digest if there were some sort of a medical reason.”
Chartraw, however, said a medical condition was not a factor in the crash. As of early September, Soto was staying at Benedictine Nursing Center, a stone’s throw from the monastery where she lives.
Nelson’s 15-year-old son Jefferey Kaskela was diagnosed at 12 with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. In December his heart began failing at an alarming rate. In an extremely fortunate but earth-shaking chain of events, Oregon Health Sciences University accepted the boy’s case and he received a new heart March 18.
“It all happened so fast,” said Kaskela, who just entered his sophomore year at South Salem High School. “I have a lot more energy now, but there are ups and downs.”
In addition to the transplant surgery, Kaskela has had a couple more stays at OHSU, each lasting three to four weeks. His most recent stay was due to his body rejecting the heart. He was admitted to OHSU just as his mother was being released from there to Providence Benedictine Nursing Center.
“She was next door to me for one day but then she left,” Kaskela said. “It was hard not having her there, but I spoke to her every day on the phone. When she started sounding better with each call, it made me feel a lot better and more comfortable being up there.”
Finding no physical reason for Kaskela’s body rejecting his new heart, doctors deduced it was brought on as a result of the stress in relation to his mother’s accident.
“I was discharged five days before she came home,” the teen said.
On Sept. 2 mother and son had appointments at OHSU. As usual, one of the nurses Nelson works with chauffeured them, bringing them by the nursing home afterward so they could visit Janine’s mother; Jefferey’s grandmother, and to bask in the attention of Nelson’s supportive coworkers, eager to hear the latest reports on their conditions. They’re generous with their encouragement, advice and caring admonitions.
These same co-workers have sacrificed their vacation time to extend Janine’s employee status and therefore her medical coverage. But that grace period is fast running out.
“Due to her being off work for so long to be with her son – day and night – for his heart transplant, Janine has very little paid time off,” said Robin Will, a Benedictine nurse. “OHSU has already placed three liens against her.”
She and many other dedicated friends raised $1,400 for the family at a garage sale and opened The Janine Nelson Benefit Fund at West Coast Bank.
They hope the community will assist them in making a tragic situation more bearable and eliminating unnecessary worries so mother, son and their loved ones, including Nelson’s fiancé and their other children, can focus on getting better.
“If having friends willing to do anything and everything for you was an Olympic sport,” says Nelson, “I’d win the gold medal every time.”
