My phone rang from an unknown number, The man said "Sir everything appears to be fine but I'm a truck driver your wife was hit from behind and she can't find her phone. She is being taken by Ambulance to the Hospital". I thanked him for the call and I could hear sirens in the background. He said buddy, she must have had an angel with her because this little girl that hit her never slowed down and spun her across 5 lanes of I-35 and she slammed into the concrete barricade dividing the highway.
I immediately rushed to the Hospital and upon seeing no blood my mood improved! The Dallas Sheriff Department paperwork was laying on the table next to my wife's bed. Car #1 hit car #2 at approx. 70 MPH spinning car #2 from the exit lane across the highway and came to rest against the barricade. After seeing my wife was not immediately injured I let her sleep and looked over the paperwork. The party at fault had the minimal Car Insurance Policy So after the X-ray, and complete workup from the Hospital they released my wife. It appeared nothing more than "soft tissue damage." Which is a very mild sounding word for that translates to "You are going to hurt like hell for several weeks and you have swollen and pulled muscles and inflamed tissue but nothing is broken."

June 14th my wife got up about 7am and went to the restroom. At 11 am she was screaming my name! She could not move from the waist down. We called 911 and had her taken to the Hospital. Apparently a disk had ruptured and compressed the nerves in her back. Her bladder stopped functioning, she had zero feeling from the waist down. I called a car accident attorney and said "I don't know what to do here but this is what happened". I can tell you having an attorney allowed us to focus on my wife's recovery which took over (2) years! She had rehabilitation three times a week. She had neurology specialist visits. It was a very long 2 years! Having an Attorney did wonders for not only our mental sanity but when he visited at the hospital It even put the staff on notice and her care was top notch. I mention that because before the Attorney visited her that morning we had a nurse that was .... not really all that great, to say the least. After the visit The head nurse came in "Mr. and Mrs. Yarbrough, may I ask if the Attorney was here because of your care"? No mam... although the Attorney got a laugh out of that story! After having life turned upside down It absolutely, positively made a huge difference having a great Attorney on our side. I still carry a wheel chair in the back part of my truck In fact it is in there right now, long after the Insurance settled. See that's the crazy part, life changes in that split second and luckily she is 99% better today. However, I know all too well how it could have ended all together on June 11th, 2014.
In case you are wondering It was discovered the young lady that hit my wife sustained very minor injuries. She was texting and driving. She hit send seconds before she hit my wife at 70MPH!

If you were involved in a car wreck or a Loved one has been involved in a car wreck you know what I mean when I say It interrupts your life. It may be a mild interruption or a major life changing interruption but the truth is, life just changed.
I can tell you from personal experience when a young man ran a red light hit my F-250 pickup with enough force to spin that big truck 180 degrees my adrenaline went from 0 to 100 in a split second. My wife and then 8 year old daughter were with me so my attention turned immediately to them. They were crying, my wife hit her head on the side glass, A police officer witnessed it and immediately came over. Are you injured he asked. With the truck smoking I looked over at him and said "officer I have a concealed handgun and a license to carry". He replied O.K. ..... but, are you injured. I said no sir. My wife is crying he said mam are you injured. She said yes, I said "honey you are ok" honestly not even comprehending what just happened. Looking back I think I just wanted it to go away so life could go on as usual. I remember feeling what I would refer to as tunnel vision. I remember feeling what I would describe as an adrenaline rush. I slowly began to wrap my head around what happened and felt embarrassed that I was trying to say my wife wasn't hurt. How could I have known if she hurt or not! I then felt a burning across my lower stomach. I later found out it was a hernia that was caused by the seat belt and twisting motion of being hit from the side.
 My wife and daughter were taken by ambulance to the hospital. Me? Well, like too many guys I thought "I'm not going to the doctor".  

Wow, so I woke up the day after and felt like I had been in a wreck! That "I'm not going to the Doctor" attitude turned into "Baby I gotta go to the Doctor, Now"! Most of mine was soft tissue damage which caused what we call whiplash. My hernia was noted and I was scheduled to have that fixed. I was self employed, I owned a carpet cleaning restoration business. I had no Idea what to do! I mean I was so incredibly sore and with legitimate pain that I can't put into words. I hurt and I hurt bad. I was released from the hospital and looked online to find an attorney. Everything was overwhelming me now. That new truck that I used for work was not going to help me, it had been towed to the auto body shop. I could not even bend forward without yelling for a pain pill. For a good week and a half my wife's new name was "honey willya", I called it frequently! Honey willya get me some water and a tylenol. So I called an attorney and his advice was music to my ears. My case may be very different from yours and different states have different laws. I can promise you two things. Thing 1, When you are in unknown territory you really want and need someone with knowledge on your side! Thing 2, It is not going to be a quick process. 

For me, the attorney took too little! I have to tell you his team handled everything like the professionals they are. His fees were actually separate from my payout so I don't know the exact dollar he received. I can tell you he got me around $20,000 plus my truck fixed my wife and daughter received money too.
Now, for me the loss of work and the money balanced out. So it's not like someone with vacation time and getting paid on top of that. However, I was grateful and felt blessed that I was able to get the money, pay the bills and get my truck back and get to work! I was Thankful my wife and daughter were not severely injured. I know it could have been a Permanent, life changing situation! Let me tell you, it happens to people everyday!