Broken Bones and Bodyguards

Cory had another bad experience on the mountain not long after the first one. He was seven years old. He wrote about it in his journal:

A picture Cory drew of himself skiing

February 17th: My family is full of skiers. I was started as a skier at a very young age. My family went skiing with a large group one particular Saturday. We were skiing and having a wonderful time. We had lunch in a cool lodge with a really great view. When the day was getting later, the adults decided to split into two groups. Me and Mrs. Jackson would go on easier runs on our way back to the car while the others skied just a few more runs and then they would meet up with us. Mrs. Jackson and I went on some fairly easy runs. Then it happened. I remember getting to a particularly flat part and thinking, “Oh, this is easy!” I relaxed and stood up straight. Then my right ski caught something and the tip of it spun around to my right. My leg violently twisted and I came crashing to the ground. I couldn't move. Every little movement or breath shot pain through my body. Mrs. Jackson came along with a few others who saw my crash and asked if I was OK. Through staggering breathes I told them I was hurt and that I couldn't move. Soon one man went to call for help, then paramedics arrived. They splinted my leg while pain shot through me. Tears rolled down my cheeks and into the snow. They loaded me up and strapped me onto a toboggan that was hooked to a snow mobile. They drove slowly to the medical lodge, every bump causing me more pain as I stared into the gray sky, flat on my back. 

They took an x-ray later at a different angle that looked worse than these because there was a big gap in the bone and a lot of cracks.

     X-rays showed that I had a long spiral break in my leg. This is one of the worst kinds you can get. A spiral break is more parallel to the bone than other breaks. It extends further than most breaks so it takes longer to heal. I had to have a cast that came from my toes up to the top of my leg.

   When I finally got home I was placed in the blue recliner, which has often been a hospital bed for different members of the family. I didn't move much from that spot. Every movement hurt. My recovery houses several memories. I remember people visiting me. They brought all sorts of gifts from candy and balloons to one of those magnetic-magic-hair toys where you give the bald man different hairstyles using a magnetic stylus. I remember visits from the Barker and Jackson families and several others. Thank you all for your support. 

We made him a bed on the floor in the family room. He couldn't make it upstairs to his room. If we even tried to get him vertical to go to the bathroom the pain was unbearable for him.

He got a lot of presents and cards from friends and family

    I also had my checkups. The doctor said the man at the ski resort who put my cast on did a very good job. Another time he marveled at how fast I was healing. He even put me in their “record book” there at the office. I attribute the fast healing to the Lord and a lot of milk (mostly the Lord though). 

This picture was hanging in the doctor's office. Cory told him that that was where he was skiing when he broke his leg.

Trying to learn to walk with crutches, painful and hard

    I also learned to walk again eventually. One day it was really bright and sunny outside. I had a perfect view of the back door from the blue chair I had gotten to know all too well. The family was coming in and out of that door as they goofed off and had fun outside. I was sick of being stuck there. My dad soon made a remark about how I needed to start walking again. The first time was the most painful. Soon I was using the crutches though. 

We made puppets and had a puppet show to entertain and keep Cory busy.

    I also soon returned to school. It was here that the school nurse showed me how to get up and down the stairs on crutches. In class they made me feel like a king. I got to prop my leg up on a chair and lean back some. I got a lot of attention too.

    Later, the school had its annual field day. I couldn't do much. They let me pick and choose what to do. They also let me do the 3-legged race since technically I did have 3 legs (2 crutches and my working leg). I got second place in that event. 

Cory was very happy when he got a shorter cast

The 3-legged race but where is his 3rd leg (other crutch)?

Cory's friends signing his new cast

More of field day

The kids with their field day ribbons. Cory got a white one for participation, 2nd place in the 3-legged race, the man in charge of hurdles gave him a 1st place ribbon for his winning smile and I gave him 3 (for #1 kid, good sport and a good attitude award)

We turned a broken umbrella into a bird for Cory

Cory even had a broken leg in one of our crazy family cards

    Eventually they moved me from a full cast to one that came to my knee, and then to a boot that I could take off. I really give thanks to my mom and all she did for me. She gave me a few sponge baths and helped me scratch inside my cast. My first bath was really an adventure as we had to try not to get the cast wet by placing it in a plastic bag. Then we had to position me in the tub so the cast was above the water and..... it was an adventure to say the least. One day I healed all the way..... and life went on.

Our family had a theme party once a month for fun. This was a clown party

Cory managed to stay on the tight-rope even with a broken leg

He was happy to get his cast off and get a boot

Cory's poor leg didn't look very good after months in casts

    The things I, his mother, remember the most about this long ordeal for Cory was the brutal first weeks. We had to wait a few days before we could get in to see the orthopedist. Cory was in a lot of pain and his toes were swollen and blue. We made him a bed on the floor in the family room because he couldn't make it up the stairs. He would sob all night and I would just hold him and not be able to do anything to help but give him pain medicine which didn't seem to help. I would hug him all night and hear him cry and cry in pain and wish I could take his pain away even for a few minutes. It is brutal watching a child suffer. One night Winn came down and the 3 of us hugged and cried. I will always have that memory in my head of our group hug on the floor. I would try to sing to Cory and tell him stories and my love for him really grew during this hard time. 

    The doctor told us that spiral breaks take a year to heal for adults but children can heal in six months. Cory had a hard time getting around with a full cast with a bend in it and with the pain. It was hard to do everything. In the beginning it took a long time just trying to get him to the bathroom and it took me hours just to get him up the stairs and help him take a bath because of the pain. 

    Cory kept falling using his crutches so I parked in a handicapped parking spot when I took him back to school because I knew he couldn't make it clear down the street. I was touched by his very sweet school teacher, who made him so comfortable at school with a pillow on a chair so his toes wouldn't swell up too tight. She also assigned him two body guards at school. One would walk on each side of him to make sure no one bumped into him and they would go everywhere with him and carry his books and backpack for him. I am grateful for these boys. I am so thankful for the people who love my children. I went over to the school to spend the day with Cory when he had field day. I expected he would have a terrible day and feel left out so I brought a picnic, some ribbons for him and some fun things for him to do. His class really included him. The teacher and kids all cheered him on and encouraged him to try the things he could do. This made a big difference to him that day.

     We had to take Cory to the doctor every few weeks. We kept praying as a family for him to heal quickly and his father gave him a priesthood blessing. The doctor was amazed at how fast Cory was healing and kept showing other doctors and the nurses his x-rays and saying over and over that he could not believe how fast Cory's bone was healing, a lot faster than he had ever seen before. He called it phenomenal and he thought Cory may hold a record for the fastest spiral break heal. He asked us permission to use Cory's case and his x-rays in a doctor's conference he was going to. I am thankful for Cory's doctor, Mrs. Jackson, his teacher, the school nurse, his friends, his classmates and his bodyguards. They all touched me with their kindness. I am also thankful for Cory and how well he handled it all. His leg healed in three months instead of six.

By May he was playing outside with his brothers and sisters. Here they are being pirates.