Please pray for Ryan and family.

When my kids were growing up, they were friends with 3 lads, Adrian, Steve and young Ryan. My mum and I were friends with their widowed mother, Trish.

We heard last night that Ryan was in a car accident. They had to use the Jaws of Life to cut him from the wreckage. He is in Intensive Care, on a ventilator. Both his thighbones (femurs) are broken. He was too ill for surgery last night so they tried to stabilise him well enough to operate today. I hear he was in the operating theatre for 5 hours but the surgeons had to stop then due to likelihood of a heart attack under anaesthetic. We hear too that his brain is swelling. He sounds very ill indeed. I will copy and paste a few things his brother Steve said:

"been back at the hospital for a while now. They busy operating,gona take 5hrs.they reckon he'll be out between 1-2pm.had a high temp b4 going in,we praying that its not from infection."

"operation got stopped half way through.not looking good.his body carry the stress.lots of complications.please pray hard guys."

"Still no change, I have been sent home to get sleep, like thats gona happen. Still in the coma, not responsive at all. BP and heart rate are ok, but thats cause of the adrenalin pump. Still on the ventilator and now has a high blood sugar too so they put him on insulin.Please guys...every free second you get pray!"

We have indeed been praying. This news hits us personally as in 1989 my kids were in a car accident and we still feel its effects to this very day. There is the belief that once the stitches are out and the bones have healed, it is all over and can be left in the past. Unfortunately, that isn't always possible. A serious accident happens in a heartbeat and can change a family forever.

When my kids were so ill, I could not pray myself. I couldn't even allow myself to feel anything, because if I did, I would fall apart, and I was all they had.

Caelyn's injuries were so profound that she had only a 4% chance of survival, and if she survived at all it would most likely be in a persistent vegetative state. (I found this information out only recently. I'm glad I didn't know then). A priest was called to give her the Last Rites, and there was a lot of prayer going up for both girls. Today, Caelyn is married with two children of her own, and overall she seems to find life less of a struggle than Michelle, whose injuries were serious but not life threatening at the time.

No matter what the outcome, Ryan and his family will need love, care, support and prayers for a long time to come.