December 18, 2006 will forever be imprinted in my mind....it's the day I lost my little sister and it's the day my life changed forever!
Wendy lived in Salt Lake City and was driving to work in the early morning of December 13th. She was dropping her 16 year old daughter off at her friends house before heading in to work. As she was about to enter an intersection the light turned yellow. There was a car coming towards her into the intersection and turned right in front of her - causing Wendy to slam on her breaks as she hit the car (she was only going about 35 miles an hour). The other driver was given a ticket at the scene. Wendy shattered her right ankle and was taken to the hospital. She was very worried about her daughter as she was 7 months pregnant. She really didn't consider her injury very serious.
My mom had called everyone in the family to let us know Wendy had been in a minor accident and was at the hospital. I called and talked to her that night. She was in good spirits, saying that she was more worried about her daughter Breana than herself. She text me a picture of Breana's face, which was bruised from the air bag going off. I asked her how long she was going to be in the hospital and she said, "Only a couple of days."
They did surgery on her ankle the next morning, putting several pins in her foot and ankle - they basically had to re-construct her ankle! She said she was feeling pretty good, but was still worried about Breana and her unborn child. The doctors said Breana was fine - so she went to stay at a friends house. For the next 3 days, I talked to Wendy everyday. She said she had a lot of visitors and that it was so nice to see everyone. She was also worried about her 3 kids and Christmas, because she hadn't finished her shopping and now she was stuck in the hospital. I told her not to worry about it, and that we would take care of the kids. She thought it was weird they were keeping her in the hospital so long, but she always kept a positive spirit about her.
Wendy had a great sense of humor and we used to laugh a lot. She commented that she kept seeing White Rabbits running around her hospital room (we all knew it was just the medication she was on!!). On Sunday, December 17th - I called Wendy to discuss the finale that night for Survivor - she really wanted Ozzy to win. I told her that I was going to fly out after Christmas and come see her for New Years. She was being transferred over to a rehabilitation center to recover for a few weeks......she was excited and made it sound like it was going to be like going to a spa ;). She joked that she wouldn't be able to dance on New years, but she could probably get a handicap parking sticker so where ever we went, we could park up front! She was so funny!
I told Wendy that I loved her (as I did every time I talked to her) and asked her to page me in the morning when they released her. I wanted to send flowers over to the Center. She said she would and we hung up.
On Monday morning December 18th, I was doing an interview for one of my managers. I noticed that my cell phone kept vibrating and I assumed Wendy had been released and had text me. I ignored it. Finally one of my co-workers came in and interrupted the interview saying that I had an emergency phone call in her office. My first thought was that one of my grandparents had died (they were 90 years old). I picked up the phone and I heard my older sister Kari's voice, "Wendy is dead Tracy. She died this morning!"......I started shaking my head and telling my sister no. There is no way she could be dead. I had just talked to her the night before, she was being released this morning....there has to be a mistake. She only broke her ankle......
Kari explained that the doctor had come in to check her out and had release her that morning. They were helping her up into the wheel chair and she fell back against her pillow. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at the doctor jokingly and said, "That was weird, does that always happen?" They said yes, that some times a patient get's dizzy from being in bed for so many days. They sat her up again and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She fell back again, but this time she did not open her eyes...... They called in a code Blue - Wendy had stopped breathing! They worked on her for an hour, bringing her back 3 times, but she didn't make it.
She had was it called a P.E.- pulmonary embolism- a blood clot. It had worked it's way up from her ankle injury over the past 5 days and it exploded in her aorta (heart) when they sat her up and killed her instantly. She didn't even know what hit her....... 40 years old. Perfect health. Gone.
How can this happen? This isn't right......she didn't need to die. She didn't have cancer, she didn't have poor health. She was at the prime of her life - with so much ahead of her.......
I have never felt so much pain in my life. I had never lost anyone close to me (my grandparents are still alive). It was as if someone took my heart and ripped it out, tore a chunk out of it and put it back......something was missing.......I had a hole in my heart. My sister Wendy was such an important person in my life. There wasn't a week that would go by that we didn't talk.....we had children the same age, had been through everything together - Just 4 months earlier we had all been together for her 40th birthday. The picture at the top of this blog showing the 4 sisters was the last picture we have of us. Who knew?
I am dedicated to keeping my sister's spirit alive by helping others. My sister's death taught me to live each day in the PRESENT. There is no guarantees that there will be a tomorrow. Laugh and smile each day....... tell the people you love that you love them - everyday!
Even though it was been almost 3 years - the shock of her death still resonates in me.....I still find myself wanting to call her and talk to her. Survivor just started again.....she would have loved it! I have to remind myself to keep smiling, keep living....it's what she would have wanted for me.
