By Brenna Wiegand
It was discovered Ron Stutzman had suffered a stroke, causing him to drift into the path of Sue and Stephen Henry.
“We’re still in a trauma state,” Ron Stutzman, 63, said. “At any time, we could break down into tears.”
And they did as they recounted Ron’s precarious hold on life – for months. He had nine surgeries those first 11 days.
He was bleeding out from broken bones as his bruised lungs filled with fluid. Salem Hospital allowed his large family to gather round to say goodbye as he was loaded into Life Flight, bound for Legacy Emanuel Hospital.
At the hospital he got pneumonia and his body went septic.
“They hardly let us celebrate the little things because there were so many things wrong,” Ron’s wife Tami Stutzman said. “They knew Ron had broken his back but couldn’t do anything because he was on the ventilator and had to be flipped every 6-8 hours to keep from drowning in his own blood.”
His son Adam Stutzman recalled how the news kept getting worse about his dad’s condition. The doctors knew they couldn’t keep “flipping” his dad.
“That’s when they said, ‘We’re going to have to run blind and just fix it.’ The next flip put him on his stomach and they wheeled him into surgery – and it all came out good,” Adam said.
Ron realizes how amazing things went his way when so much could have gotten even worse. He said he had about “half an inch of exposed spinal cord, so I should have been a paraplegic.” During surgery he had another stroke, but about all he has to show for it is one uncooperative foot.
“We realize what went on,” Ron said. “This was a God thing and for anybody to argue that with me would be an exercise in futility. I don’t know how anybody without that faith could have gotten through this.”
Amber Stutzman, Adam’s wife, remembers how the first night of her father-in-law’s accident that she receved more than 300 emails, texts and Facebook messages from friends and family concerned about Ron and their family. The messages didn’t stop.
For Christmas, Amber compiled all the messages into a book for her folks.
Word spread, and so did the story of the family’s undying faith.
“This story caused quite a fervor,” Ron said. “We kept hearing how some people’s lives were changed through it and that’s what it’s all about. Our faith was the only thing we relied on; I have no clue how people can do it without that.”
Recently Ron and Tami moved in with Adam, Amber and their eight kids. Adam converted their one-car garage into an apartment with help from his friend Matt Traeger. The two were on the same undefeated Silverton High School state championship football team, Ron was an assistant coach.
“Oh, I’ll do that for Coach anytime,” Matt said. Ron played football through college and was on a farm team for the Rams.
“I’m so grateful he’s still here with us and we had a wonderful Christmas and celebrated with everybody else; just joyful, but we would have had a wonderful Christmas without him here, knowing that he was with God and that God takes care of us and he loves us all – and that’s what we shared with the kids,” Tami said.
Amber is amazed at how much her father-in-law’s health has improved since the accident.
“If you just came up and met him you wouldn’t know he’d been in a wreck,” Amber said. “He’s just totally back!”
With that cue Ron hoisted up his sweatshirt to reveal his custom T-shirt: “Not the king’s horses and not the king’s men, but God through the doctors put me together again.”
The Henrys
Like the Stutzmans, Stephen and Sue credit their Christian faith as what got them through all that happened during and after the accident.
“I just remember the silence after the cars collided,” Sue Henry said. ‘The world just stopped.”
She too bounced from hospital to nursing home, casts on both legs and unable to move her arms due to internal injuries.
She was flown to Oregon Health & Science University while Stephen spent 10 days at Salem Hospital with breaks in his neck and leg and a loss of hearing as a result of the accident. His most recent surgery was last month.
“Our 6-month-old puppy Gracie was with us and she was as close to death as I was; a broken rib had punctured her lung,” Sue said. “We were so thankful; the breeder took charge of her recovery and kept the dog until Stephen could bring her home.”
They found out that the night of the accident – and many, many thereafter – their church members congregated on the Henry’s lawn – they just felt closer to the family that way. They brought their Bibles and prayed. A neighbor’s fountain prompted them to pray that the waters of healing would wash over them.
“The more I hear, the more emotional I get,” Sue said.
Like the Stutzmans, the Henrys discovered people had been praying for them all over the world and continually thank God for saving their lives. And for that they are grateful. Both families are still healing from the injuries.
While the two families do not know one another, they are connected through their faith and prayers. Each family praying for the other with an understanding of what a harrowing journey it has been for both.
“As much as I was the older generation that didn’t like Facebook before, now I love it,” Tami Stutzman said. “We felt covered by prayer; God knew what he was doing, even if it meant Ronnie wouldn’t live.”
“It’s very traumatic,” Sue said. “I don’t let myself dwell on those parts. All I want to concentrate on is getting better and being healed.
“My ankles may never be the same again,” Sue said, “but every day I can’t thank God enough for saving me for whatever he still wants me to do – and I’m willing.”
