Praying for a Miracle

The story of Tracy

By: Jonathon Simeone

 

   Chapter: 1 “The Hit.”

       

        My name is Jon and I am writing a true story about my cousin Tracy and her tragedy. Tracy is only 20 years old, and she was traveling all over the world with her sister and friends. Her sister’s name is Tiffany. Tracy goes to school at University of Miami. She visited Italy on a transfer program where she went to an Italian school for one semester. The Italian school was called Gonzaga University.

 

        When Tracy visited Florence, Italy she met someone that was from her school in America. All the girls decided to go to dinner, and then it happened. As the girls were walking to dinner, all of the sudden a speeding car came flying around the corner, and was out of control. The car went onto the sidewalk and the car hit Tracy, Tiffany and all their friends. Tiffany hurt her ankle. The friends got out of the way of the car, but Tracy did not have the best of luck. Tracy broke her left leg really bad, fractured her ankle and hurt her shoulder. She had a terrible cut on her leg, which was 27 inches long and required 54 stitches. Tracy needed surgery immediately.

 

Chapter: 2 “ The Surgery.”   

 

When Tracy went in for surgery, something went terribly wrong. There was a problem after the surgery due to the anesthesia. Tracy went into Cardiac Arrest!  Her heart stopped for over 6 minutes. Tracy was finally resuscitated, but because her heart had stopped for over 6 minutes, she suffered what is called anoxic brain injury. Tracy is now in a coma.  Tracy was in the Naval hospital in Naples Italy when this happened. They flew her to a hospital in Germany where there were doctors who specialize in anoxic brain injury. The plane was a Navy C-41, which are the planes they use to bring injured soldiers to hospitals. She stayed there for a few days. Then the decision was made to send her to one of the best hospitals in the world. Bethesda Naval Hospital, which is where the President of the United States goes. She was flown to Baltimore Maryland,  where she was admitted to the Bethesda Naval Hospital.

 

   This is where the whole family gathered from all over the country to meet with Tracy and all her doctors.  We were very worried when we saw Tracy. She had so many tubes and machines attached to her that it made us all cry.  Some of the people who were there along with me were: my brother Mike, my mom, my nana and my uncle Johnny, my aunt Diane, my cousins; Chip, Guy, Dawn, Eileen, and many other friends and family.  

 

My uncle Johnny is a priest, so he was able to say masses and rosaries in Tracy’s room. Tracy was in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) when we got there. There were so many VIP’s that came to visit her from the Navy, (her Dad is a Captain and a  Navy Doctor).  We met Admirals, Five star Generals, and other very important people. When Tracy was in ICU, she had to have many tests to determine how she was doing. We had to wait a long time before we could see her. Then we were allowed in two people at a time.

 

We had to be very quiet at times, and at other times, we played music and talked to her to try and get her to wake up. From the long plane ride, Tracy’s eyes were very swollen. My Aunt Debbie, Uncle Fanancy and Cousin Tiffany (Tracy’s immediate family) were very tired from the long trip. We tried very hard to comfort them.

 

Chapter: 3 “The Wait”

 

 

            The whole family stayed in Maryland for a week. We were all packed in to this very small waiting room where we played cards, prayed, ate, talked and cried a lot.  We tried everything from talking, to praying, to reading to her. It is really strange when you talk to her because she can’t respond, but you can tell she hears you.  She can open her eyes and look around a little. We watched as doctors checked her and tested her for brain activity. There was some, but not much.  The only part of her brain that was working was reflexive.  I met a male nurse named Jon. He was really nice. He was explaining what all the machines do.  My uncle Johnny was always with Tracy and read to her each day. He was reading a book called The Other Boleyne Girl.  I was there all the time when he read it.  My uncle Fanancy, Tracy’s dad, told us we had to go back to our room and let her get some rest.  We all went into the Hotel room and talked about Tracy. It was so sad. I only got 5 hours of sleep that night. I was laying awake thinking.

 

            It has been 8 weeks since the crash, and we are still waiting for her to wake up. She has Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy every day. We are able to watch her progress on her web page that her sister Tiffany made. I wish that this wasn’t a true story, but it is, and it’s my family. We hope that everybody who reads my book will say a little prayer for a girl named Tracy.

 

We are all praying for a miracle.

 

You are welcome to look at the following pages which have some pictures of Tracy on the night before the accident.

 

The end….