It was July of 2012. Brandi and I had been married a little over a year, and this was the first time we had spent a day apart. I was hanging out with a few of my oldest friends who had just finished college and moved back into the area, whilst Brandi was spending time with my two sisters.
Our lives were actually in a state of transition to some degree, as we mentioned in the previous chapter. Up to this point, I had been working full time as a partner in a business started by myself and a friend, which had been successful enough to be our primary income source. However, I had felt a growing sense that a transition needed to happen, and therefore I had stepped down from that position just a few weeks before the accident, and we were preparing for whatever was next. We thought that would just be a new season of doing a different business and being more heavily involved at church. God knew, though, what actually lay ahead. I know this because of some things that actually happened in the days and weeks preceding the accident. I’ll refer back to some of these things a bit later in the story.
So, I was in Madison, and without any cellphone signal. There was a landline at my friend’s house where we were hanging out, but we were outside for most of the day. While sitting on the porch, we heard the phone ringing repeatedly. Walking in to see who it might be that was calling incessantly, I noticed that it was my mom’s number. I answered, a wave of dread coming over me, only to hear my mom say “Brandi and the girls have been in an accident.” My worst fears became real, and I almost dropped the phone. “Is she okay?” I asked. My mom hesitated before replying, “She’s okay, but it’s serious. You need to come as quick as you can.” I didn’t know what to think, and it felt like a waking nightmare as I grabbed my stuff, quickly told my friends that there had been an accident, and took off for Fredericksburg.
It was the longest drive of my life, I can tell you. I prayed the whole way, but the fear gripping my heart couldn’t be quelled. At some point during the long drive, I called my cousin (and lifelong friend) Mike, and he and I prayed together. I was hoping for the best, but something told me to prepare for the worst.
When I finally pulled into the ER parking lot and rushed in, there were probably 50 people from church in the waiting room. Several people came alongside me and put their hands on me as I approached the desk. In a few moments, my mom came out into the waiting room. David Bradshaw was with her. I know in my heart it was worse than I feared.
They took me back to the surgical waiting room, where Brandi’s family had arrived shortly before. I found out that Brandi had been unconscious and unresponsive on arrival (I didn’t find out until later that she had been without breathe or pulse on the scene), and had been rushed into the OR. They had yet to hear anything from the doctors. Honestly, I couldn’t even think at this point. I had no grid for what was happening.
A short time later (though it didn’t feel short), we were asked to move into the ICU waiting room, because Brandi had been moved from the OR. After waiting there for a while, the doctor finally came in to address us. He said that Brandi’s injury was life-threateningly serious. Her brain was bleeding and her neck was likely broken. They had drilled through her skull to place an ICP monitor (which measures pressure) in her brain. The shock began setting in in earnest. I remember throwing up repeatedly in the hours that followed this initial report.
When we finally were able to go back to see Brandi, words cannot describe what I encountered and felt. She lay utterly motionless except for a constant involuntary tremble. A machine breathed for her, she could not breathe on her own. There was blood coming from her ears. Her neck was in a brace, and a large metal “bolt” protruded from her skull with a wire attached to it. Wires and tubes connected her to machines on every side. There lay the body of my wife, but something was missing…Brandi. I could not feel her. I had stood and watched her sleep countless times since we’d been married. Yet, I could always feel her – feel her essence – feel her soul. This time, I could not. Half of my being had been ripped from the land of the living, it seemed, and my whole world was falling apart.
Oh Phil and Brandi, I just have no words. I continue to send you loving healing energy! I feel so fortune to know you. I admire you bith greatly. A love like you both share is an priceless gift and testimony.
?? Thank you for sharing this deeply personal and emotional life story. I cannot even imagine all that you have passed through. I see and know your faith has brought you through and will continue to do so. ❤️ You’re inspirational in countless ways.
Thank you, Joyce! We are so glad God connected us with you and very blessed by the ways you have enriched our lives over the last few years. Thank you for being part of our journey!
We will never forget that day Phil. Our prayers are forever with you.
I recall hearing a missionary to China relating a similar account concerning her husband. He had been attacked by bandits and was left for dead. When they found him, he was hanging on by a thread. Her first cry to the Lord after hearing this was, “Lord, why?” the Lord simply said to her heart, “The strong are strongly tested.” At that point she accepted what the Lord said as her appointed opportunity to trust God for grace to glorify Him in the trial day by day. She kept a daily journal of thoughts and stories that ministered to her heart and to her husband during that difficult time. shortly after her passing they were compiled into what became one of the most beloved devotional book of all time called, “Streams in the
Desert”. The essence of her testimony is that God is good all the time and a very present help in time of need. None of God’s children know what will happen or what God is doing or will do in any given circumstance of life. However we have through His Word the knowledge of who He is. Out task in times like this is to search out his character, knowing that He cannot and will not deny Himself and out of that pursuit to bear witness to His faithfulness.
Dear brother, our prayer for you and Brandi is that your faith will not fail and that as you look for signs of his appearing in the midst of your trial, you may daily anticipate His goodness. His great desire is for you and Brandi to walk through this season with Him so that out of the experience of His comfort you will be enabled to offer His real comfort to others who are struggling in similar circumstances with their faith.
I feel in my heart, that the Lord “has seen the travail of your souls and is satisfied.” He is near and is faithful to manifest Himself to as you lean upon His grace..
Blessings to you and Brandi!
Bowie
Thank you, Bowie. Very encouraging words, and I definitely bear witness. So appreciate the way you and many others have literally carried us with your prayers.
Phillip,
I don’t know if you remember, but we and our friends Mark and Lisa Simons were the ones who witnessed the accident. Before I tell that part though, a little back story.
We spent the day with Mark and Lisa at a winery far from Madison. I can’t recall the name. Anyway, we decided to go to Madison to the winery there just on a whim. Looking back, we see that God wanted us there. So we went to the wine tasting and spent a nice hour or so looking around the grounds. It had been a long afternoon so we decided that it was time to get back home to Locust Grove.
My husband Mike was driving our car along a remote, winding road when right in front of us, coming from the opposite direction, a SUV careened off the road, rolled over and hit a tree! We were afraid that it was going to hit us head-on. After our initial shock, Mike pulled off the road and while I called 911, Mike and Mark ran to the damaged car. Brandi wasn’t breathing and the roof of the vehicle was crushed down on her. Mike got her away from under the roof and did CPR on her till he got a pulse. Mark, assisted with your sister who was bleeding from her head wound. If ever God’s hand was in something this was it!! We would never have been on that lonely road to assist with your family and it was a good 15 minutes before another car came past. We would not have had the blessed results we did, unless God put us there when He did. Once the EMTS arrived and took over we stood in shock and silence and prayed that these young people would survive. We moved away to Arizona shortly after the accident but kept up with Brandi’s condition through Prayers for Brandi. We are so happy that you all came through this and thank our Lord we were able to be there when she needed us. Our God is an awesome God!!
Wow, thank you so much for reaching out! I was amazed when I first heard the story of what happened at the scene of the accident, and Brandi and I continued to be amazed in reading your account! When we have come out against obstacles through the journey towards recovery, looking back at some of the ways God intervened from the very beginning has been a major faith booster.
We see Mark and Lisa periodically and have heard the account from them, but I don’t think we ever had the opportunity to meet you and your husband together, since you moved not long after the accident. It would be wonderful to get a chance to meet you some day!
I am planning to tell more about the actual event of the crash in a later chapter…Basically corresponding chronologically to when I heard those details. I would love to share some or all of what you’ve posted above when I do, if that would be okay?
Thank you both for taking action and letting God use you!
Absolutely use what you’d like in telling your story. We are just so glad to have been placed there when we were. We do plan on coming to Virginia in early May to see my mom . Perhaps we can meet you when we go back to see Lisa and Mark? It would be amazing to see Brandi’s progress and how God has healed her.
We would love that! We will actually be in South Carolina May 6-13 for our wedding anniversary, but if y’all are here before or after that, let’s definitely connect.
Congratulations! Hope you both have another blessed year! I’ll see what our schedule looks like for the first week of May. My mom isn’t well so we may need to be there for her.