Sammy's Story
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Sammy's Crash and Experiences leading up to her passing
Hi, my name is Sharon, and I am the Mother of 4 wonderful children.
Three of which are left behind to grieve with me over my daughter
Samantha’s untimely death. She was killed in a car crash at the age of
16, that could have been avoided if only the driver had been attentive
and responsible. This driver’s neglect cost my daughter her life.
Samantha was the passenger in the vehicle in which the 27 year old
driver was traveling at a speed of 96mph on a stretch of highway that is
shaped like a S.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out traveling that fast on a
road like that is going to end badly. There was nothing that could have
saved Samantha from her injuries at that rate of speed and the
horrifying fire that ensued from the collision.
The driver never even attempted to apply the brakes. Impact was made
on the front passenger side of the vehicle at 88mph. They crashed
through a barrier and the vehicle became airborne, slamming into a
bridge abutment before coming to rest and bursting into flames.
The thoughts that run though my head and bother me most are how
terrified Sammy must have been, she was afraid of driving fast so I know
at some point she was extremely frightened and had no way out of the
vehicle traveling at that speed and on a highway.
An ambulance driving by on the way to another call witnessed the
explosion and quickly rushed over to get the girls out of the vehicle.
They removed the driver first but my Sammy was wedged in such a way
from the impact and the flames were so intense that they could not get
her out before extinguishing the flames, flames which were so high and
intense that arriving fire trucks thought it was a structure fire not a
vehicle fire. My Sammy sat in the burning vehicle for several minutes
while fire fighters fought the flames so they could access the vehicle to
get her out of the car.
Once they removed her from the vehicle she was rushed to Rhode Island
Hospital. Memorial Hospital was about a 2 minute ride away but because
of the nature of her injuries she was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital
because they deal with critical care patients. You know it’s bad when
emergency units opt to bypass a hospital so close in order to get their
patient into a hospital dealing with critical care.
They couldn't identify Sammy right away for several reasons.
1 She was a minor so carried no ID.
2 She was so severely burned that unless you knew her personally you'd
have never been able to tell.
3. She had just gotten a new cell phone and had yet to transfer her
numbers into it and hadn't yet put her I.C.E ( In Case of Emergency)
numbers in it either.
The police ended up scrolling through her recent call list and calling every
person she talked to that night trying to find out who she was. They
had no luck until they hit on her brothers number. They told him they
had his sister's phone and needed to bring it home to us...None of us
could figure out why they would have her phone. It never dawned on us
that she was hurt.
I was out of town when the accident took place so my other daughter
called me right away to tell me the police had Sammy's phone, and that
Sammy's Dad was at the door talking to them. I told her to bring him
the phone so I could speak to him and find out what was going on.
When my husband got on the phone he told me Sammy was in a bad
accident. I sent him straight off to the hospital while I called the hospital
to try and get information regarding my daughter.
No one would tell me anything except 2 females had been brought in
who were in a car accident. I explained to the woman on the phone that
if one of them is in fact my daughter I needed to know, that I was out of
town and had to get home. I asked her if she could at least tell me if
both girls were alive. She said yes, but if one of these girls is your
daughter I suggest you get home as fast as possible.
I quickly got on the phone with South West airlines to try and change
my ticket and leave on the first available flight out. I explained the
situation and pleaded with them to get me on a flight. They were very
unsympathetic and told me that if I waited one more day they would
exchange my ticket but because the particular day I needed to get home
was a blackout date and they could do nothing for me that night and
would have to charge me full price for the ticket. I of course just paid for
a new ticket and went straight to the airport.
While awaiting my flight out I called the hospital and was informed my
husband had made it there and positively identified Sammy. I talked to
him for a few minutes and could hear the strain in his voice it was now
becoming clear to me how serious this was. He handed the phone over
to the Doctor who asked how I wanted him to handle Sammy’s care. I
instructed him to save her life at all costs and keep her alive at the very
least until I got home so I could say my goodbyes and hold her while she
passed. My husband in charge of all decisions that needed to be made
until I got there and could help make the decisions regarding our
daughter’s care.
The Doctor began to describe Sammy’s injuries to me...they all really
didn't seem so serious to me it’s a surreal state of shock and dismay
and possibly denial your in and things tend to not sink in fully until the
details start to process in your mind and it hits you.
My Sister sat and listened as I spoke with the Doctor. I thought, hmmm
she could live, this doesn't sound so bad at all....until he said she had
3rd degree and worse burns over 70 percent of her body.
(I don't remember this part of the conversation but my Sister tells me it
went as follows).
Upon hearing about the burns I said to the Doctor "The car was on fire?
This was a car fire?" I dropped to my knees and really just don't recall
anything beyond that in the conversation.
We arrived at the airport at around 5:00 am and waited to board the
plane. I made the conscious decision to turn my cell phone off once
boarding the plane and not turn it back on again until we got to Rhode
Island. I thought if Samantha passed away while I was en route it would
do me no good to know that, in fact it probably would have been very
bad.
We boarded the plane, flight attendants closed the doors to prepare for
departure and I couldn't help but look around and notice how many
empty seats were on that flight. I didn't have it in me to get angry then I
was too worried about Sammy and needed to save my energy for her. (I
did however some months later let South West know how ill treated I
was during such a difficult time, how no one would exchange my ticket
on a flight that was clearly not full.) (Note)
I finally arrived home and found my husband waiting at the airport for
me with my other daughter.
All I needed to know was is my baby still alive? Thank goodness she was
and we rushed over to the hospital.
I was greeted by Doctors and Social workers who all wanted to prepare
me to go in her room. I just kept walking passed them saying "I am
ready". We got to her door and I looked in through the window as they
handed me all sorts of gear to put on before entering her room.
When I entered her room and all the Doctors backed away and let me go
to her. I tried to find a spot on her that wasn't burned so I could touch
her and let her know that I was with her. The only spot I could find was
one on the back of her shoulder large enough for me to touch her with 3
fingers.
I looked at her and thought how beautiful she still looked even with all
the burns. Amazingly her hair was untouched by the fire, she'd have
been so happy about that because she so loved her hair.
I stayed at the hospital the entire time watching protectively over her
more afraid than I’ve ever been in my life. I was afraid if I slept
something would happen to her and as long as I was awake everything
would be okay.
Over the next 36 hours I would have to make some of the most difficult
decisions I have ever had to make in my life.
The doctors explained that her internal organs were swelling and they
needed to relieve the pressure so I had to O.K a bedside operation, in
which they would make an incision in her abdomen allowing the organs
room to expand. They would leave the incision open and cover it with a
large clear bandage type thing.
Once they did that her vitals improved so it seemed I made the right
choice.
My next decision to be made was whether to let them amputate her
hands and feet. I asked them what would happen if I decided not to?
They told me she would die without question. So the decision in my eyes
was clear, I had to try and save my baby so I consented to the
amputations.
New Years Eve day is when they had a window of opportunity to do the
amputations. We waited for hours for the Doctor to come back and
update us.
He told us it went better then expected, they decided to take the feet
first and see how she did and bring her back to her room and wait for
their next opportunity to take the hands. He told me her vitals actually
went up during surgery which is not normal but it is a good sign. I was
excited and very optimistic thinking that my baby girl was pulling for her
life. We let loose that night a little bit and laughed for the first time since
I got home. My Brother, Sister and oldest Son stayed with me for New
Years Eve. I went and to Sammy just before midnight and celebrated the
New Year with her.
A few minutes passed midnight the nurse needed to tend to Sammy so I
went down for a coffee. When I came back up and sat down a nurse
came running out yelling for me, Sammy was in cardiac arrest. I ran to
her room and watched as they brought her back, I held my breath the
whole time but within minutes they had her heart beating again.
I let them finish taking care of her and began down the hall to the
waiting room when a Doctor walked up to me and very heartlessly said
to me "You know you are going to have to make a decision soon. You
have to decide if you should let her go". I looked him square in the eye
and said "I refuse to make that decision after she has gone into cardiac
arrest once, it may not happen again at all. How do you expect me, her
MOTHER to do that? I won’t!" and I walked away.
A nurse came up behind me having witnessed what went on and said as
gently as she could "at some point if you are having a hard time deciding
what to do, you can just tell us not to take heroic measures and we will
make the decision for you." I thanked her but told her that if and when a
decision needed to be made I would make it. I told her I didn't know how
I would know when it was time to let her go or if I would ever know. She
assured me that as Sammy’s Mom, I would know and only I would know.
I returned to the waiting room and before long they came for me again. I
ran down and watched them revive her, this time it took longer but they
did bring her back. I now began to doubt if what I was putting her
through was fair to her, was I doing it for her or was I doing it to save
me from having to suffer the loss of her?
I had some serious thinking ahead of me.
I again returned to the waiting room while they tended to Sammy. She
had so many machines in her room that there was not enough room for
us all at once.
I sat in the waiting room thinking. I prayed to my Nana, and my cousin
Christine who passed before Sammy. I also talked to Sammy. (she was
in a medically induced coma but I knew if I talked to her she would hear
me) I explained to Sammy that I could not make the decision to end her
life. I told her that I love her and I do want her to live and would take her
anyway I could have her. But I also told her that if she was tired and
couldn't fight anymore I would understand, it would hurt me and
everyone else who loves her but in time we would be okay. I told her if
she was too tired to fight anymore she should give me a sign so I would
know it was time to make the decision. I told her to just let her heart
stop and don't allow the Doctors to bring it back. I told her if she
wanted to keep fighting though all she had to do was keep fighting and I
would be there every step of the way fighting with her.
Well around 2:15 am Sammy gave me my sign. The nurse came running
out again, we all ran down to her room. My Sister, Brother and my Son
all stood outside watching as I went in the room. I watched the Doctors
inject her twice with adrenaline and use the defibrillator, she was not
coming back.
I looked at my family and they told me don't make any decision I am not
ready for, but I told them I knew what to do. I looked at the Doctors
(about 9 of them in the room) and told them to stop, she was suffering
and had had enough. They backed away and guided me to her. I held
her in my arms and cried, they called Time of Death at 2:19am.
My brother was the first to enter the room and just hold me and cry
with me. I had never seen or heard him cry like that before.
My sister was in the hall comforting my son.
All of the Doctors and nurses left the room with tears in their eyes.
I stayed with Sammy a bit longer then knew I had to call the rest of the
family in to say goodbye to her.
It was the hardest night of our lives. Nothing will ever compare.
The world lost a beautiful, lively, loving, kind, caring and unselfish person
that morning. She was genuine and told it like it was, she was never one
to get embarrassed and just loved everything about life. Her motto was,
live each moment like it's your last. And she did. She had a wonderful
life. Everyone who knew her is a better person for having known and
loved her.
I am thankful everyday that I was allowed to know and love such a
wonderful little girl. It wasn't nearly long enough but I was surely blessed
for being allowed the time with her that I was.
I would guess from what we know more then 1000 people passed
through her wake and hundreds attended her funeral. Without question,
she was loved.
I will in time post photos of the vehicle Sammy was in. I am just waiting
until we get through the trial. I don't want anything to interfere with this
case so for the time being I have to keep these photos to myself.
Three of which are left behind to grieve with me over my daughter
Samantha’s untimely death. She was killed in a car crash at the age of
16, that could have been avoided if only the driver had been attentive
and responsible. This driver’s neglect cost my daughter her life.
Samantha was the passenger in the vehicle in which the 27 year old
driver was traveling at a speed of 96mph on a stretch of highway that is
shaped like a S.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out traveling that fast on a
road like that is going to end badly. There was nothing that could have
saved Samantha from her injuries at that rate of speed and the
horrifying fire that ensued from the collision.
The driver never even attempted to apply the brakes. Impact was made
on the front passenger side of the vehicle at 88mph. They crashed
through a barrier and the vehicle became airborne, slamming into a
bridge abutment before coming to rest and bursting into flames.
The thoughts that run though my head and bother me most are how
terrified Sammy must have been, she was afraid of driving fast so I know
at some point she was extremely frightened and had no way out of the
vehicle traveling at that speed and on a highway.
An ambulance driving by on the way to another call witnessed the
explosion and quickly rushed over to get the girls out of the vehicle.
They removed the driver first but my Sammy was wedged in such a way
from the impact and the flames were so intense that they could not get
her out before extinguishing the flames, flames which were so high and
intense that arriving fire trucks thought it was a structure fire not a
vehicle fire. My Sammy sat in the burning vehicle for several minutes
while fire fighters fought the flames so they could access the vehicle to
get her out of the car.
Once they removed her from the vehicle she was rushed to Rhode Island
Hospital. Memorial Hospital was about a 2 minute ride away but because
of the nature of her injuries she was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital
because they deal with critical care patients. You know it’s bad when
emergency units opt to bypass a hospital so close in order to get their
patient into a hospital dealing with critical care.
They couldn't identify Sammy right away for several reasons.
1 She was a minor so carried no ID.
2 She was so severely burned that unless you knew her personally you'd
have never been able to tell.
3. She had just gotten a new cell phone and had yet to transfer her
numbers into it and hadn't yet put her I.C.E ( In Case of Emergency)
numbers in it either.
The police ended up scrolling through her recent call list and calling every
person she talked to that night trying to find out who she was. They
had no luck until they hit on her brothers number. They told him they
had his sister's phone and needed to bring it home to us...None of us
could figure out why they would have her phone. It never dawned on us
that she was hurt.
I was out of town when the accident took place so my other daughter
called me right away to tell me the police had Sammy's phone, and that
Sammy's Dad was at the door talking to them. I told her to bring him
the phone so I could speak to him and find out what was going on.
When my husband got on the phone he told me Sammy was in a bad
accident. I sent him straight off to the hospital while I called the hospital
to try and get information regarding my daughter.
No one would tell me anything except 2 females had been brought in
who were in a car accident. I explained to the woman on the phone that
if one of them is in fact my daughter I needed to know, that I was out of
town and had to get home. I asked her if she could at least tell me if
both girls were alive. She said yes, but if one of these girls is your
daughter I suggest you get home as fast as possible.
I quickly got on the phone with South West airlines to try and change
my ticket and leave on the first available flight out. I explained the
situation and pleaded with them to get me on a flight. They were very
unsympathetic and told me that if I waited one more day they would
exchange my ticket but because the particular day I needed to get home
was a blackout date and they could do nothing for me that night and
would have to charge me full price for the ticket. I of course just paid for
a new ticket and went straight to the airport.
While awaiting my flight out I called the hospital and was informed my
husband had made it there and positively identified Sammy. I talked to
him for a few minutes and could hear the strain in his voice it was now
becoming clear to me how serious this was. He handed the phone over
to the Doctor who asked how I wanted him to handle Sammy’s care. I
instructed him to save her life at all costs and keep her alive at the very
least until I got home so I could say my goodbyes and hold her while she
passed. My husband in charge of all decisions that needed to be made
until I got there and could help make the decisions regarding our
daughter’s care.
The Doctor began to describe Sammy’s injuries to me...they all really
didn't seem so serious to me it’s a surreal state of shock and dismay
and possibly denial your in and things tend to not sink in fully until the
details start to process in your mind and it hits you.
My Sister sat and listened as I spoke with the Doctor. I thought, hmmm
she could live, this doesn't sound so bad at all....until he said she had
3rd degree and worse burns over 70 percent of her body.
(I don't remember this part of the conversation but my Sister tells me it
went as follows).
Upon hearing about the burns I said to the Doctor "The car was on fire?
This was a car fire?" I dropped to my knees and really just don't recall
anything beyond that in the conversation.
We arrived at the airport at around 5:00 am and waited to board the
plane. I made the conscious decision to turn my cell phone off once
boarding the plane and not turn it back on again until we got to Rhode
Island. I thought if Samantha passed away while I was en route it would
do me no good to know that, in fact it probably would have been very
bad.
We boarded the plane, flight attendants closed the doors to prepare for
departure and I couldn't help but look around and notice how many
empty seats were on that flight. I didn't have it in me to get angry then I
was too worried about Sammy and needed to save my energy for her. (I
did however some months later let South West know how ill treated I
was during such a difficult time, how no one would exchange my ticket
on a flight that was clearly not full.) (Note)
I finally arrived home and found my husband waiting at the airport for
me with my other daughter.
All I needed to know was is my baby still alive? Thank goodness she was
and we rushed over to the hospital.
I was greeted by Doctors and Social workers who all wanted to prepare
me to go in her room. I just kept walking passed them saying "I am
ready". We got to her door and I looked in through the window as they
handed me all sorts of gear to put on before entering her room.
When I entered her room and all the Doctors backed away and let me go
to her. I tried to find a spot on her that wasn't burned so I could touch
her and let her know that I was with her. The only spot I could find was
one on the back of her shoulder large enough for me to touch her with 3
fingers.
I looked at her and thought how beautiful she still looked even with all
the burns. Amazingly her hair was untouched by the fire, she'd have
been so happy about that because she so loved her hair.
I stayed at the hospital the entire time watching protectively over her
more afraid than I’ve ever been in my life. I was afraid if I slept
something would happen to her and as long as I was awake everything
would be okay.
Over the next 36 hours I would have to make some of the most difficult
decisions I have ever had to make in my life.
The doctors explained that her internal organs were swelling and they
needed to relieve the pressure so I had to O.K a bedside operation, in
which they would make an incision in her abdomen allowing the organs
room to expand. They would leave the incision open and cover it with a
large clear bandage type thing.
Once they did that her vitals improved so it seemed I made the right
choice.
My next decision to be made was whether to let them amputate her
hands and feet. I asked them what would happen if I decided not to?
They told me she would die without question. So the decision in my eyes
was clear, I had to try and save my baby so I consented to the
amputations.
New Years Eve day is when they had a window of opportunity to do the
amputations. We waited for hours for the Doctor to come back and
update us.
He told us it went better then expected, they decided to take the feet
first and see how she did and bring her back to her room and wait for
their next opportunity to take the hands. He told me her vitals actually
went up during surgery which is not normal but it is a good sign. I was
excited and very optimistic thinking that my baby girl was pulling for her
life. We let loose that night a little bit and laughed for the first time since
I got home. My Brother, Sister and oldest Son stayed with me for New
Years Eve. I went and to Sammy just before midnight and celebrated the
New Year with her.
A few minutes passed midnight the nurse needed to tend to Sammy so I
went down for a coffee. When I came back up and sat down a nurse
came running out yelling for me, Sammy was in cardiac arrest. I ran to
her room and watched as they brought her back, I held my breath the
whole time but within minutes they had her heart beating again.
I let them finish taking care of her and began down the hall to the
waiting room when a Doctor walked up to me and very heartlessly said
to me "You know you are going to have to make a decision soon. You
have to decide if you should let her go". I looked him square in the eye
and said "I refuse to make that decision after she has gone into cardiac
arrest once, it may not happen again at all. How do you expect me, her
MOTHER to do that? I won’t!" and I walked away.
A nurse came up behind me having witnessed what went on and said as
gently as she could "at some point if you are having a hard time deciding
what to do, you can just tell us not to take heroic measures and we will
make the decision for you." I thanked her but told her that if and when a
decision needed to be made I would make it. I told her I didn't know how
I would know when it was time to let her go or if I would ever know. She
assured me that as Sammy’s Mom, I would know and only I would know.
I returned to the waiting room and before long they came for me again. I
ran down and watched them revive her, this time it took longer but they
did bring her back. I now began to doubt if what I was putting her
through was fair to her, was I doing it for her or was I doing it to save
me from having to suffer the loss of her?
I had some serious thinking ahead of me.
I again returned to the waiting room while they tended to Sammy. She
had so many machines in her room that there was not enough room for
us all at once.
I sat in the waiting room thinking. I prayed to my Nana, and my cousin
Christine who passed before Sammy. I also talked to Sammy. (she was
in a medically induced coma but I knew if I talked to her she would hear
me) I explained to Sammy that I could not make the decision to end her
life. I told her that I love her and I do want her to live and would take her
anyway I could have her. But I also told her that if she was tired and
couldn't fight anymore I would understand, it would hurt me and
everyone else who loves her but in time we would be okay. I told her if
she was too tired to fight anymore she should give me a sign so I would
know it was time to make the decision. I told her to just let her heart
stop and don't allow the Doctors to bring it back. I told her if she
wanted to keep fighting though all she had to do was keep fighting and I
would be there every step of the way fighting with her.
Well around 2:15 am Sammy gave me my sign. The nurse came running
out again, we all ran down to her room. My Sister, Brother and my Son
all stood outside watching as I went in the room. I watched the Doctors
inject her twice with adrenaline and use the defibrillator, she was not
coming back.
I looked at my family and they told me don't make any decision I am not
ready for, but I told them I knew what to do. I looked at the Doctors
(about 9 of them in the room) and told them to stop, she was suffering
and had had enough. They backed away and guided me to her. I held
her in my arms and cried, they called Time of Death at 2:19am.
My brother was the first to enter the room and just hold me and cry
with me. I had never seen or heard him cry like that before.
My sister was in the hall comforting my son.
All of the Doctors and nurses left the room with tears in their eyes.
I stayed with Sammy a bit longer then knew I had to call the rest of the
family in to say goodbye to her.
It was the hardest night of our lives. Nothing will ever compare.
The world lost a beautiful, lively, loving, kind, caring and unselfish person
that morning. She was genuine and told it like it was, she was never one
to get embarrassed and just loved everything about life. Her motto was,
live each moment like it's your last. And she did. She had a wonderful
life. Everyone who knew her is a better person for having known and
loved her.
I am thankful everyday that I was allowed to know and love such a
wonderful little girl. It wasn't nearly long enough but I was surely blessed
for being allowed the time with her that I was.
I would guess from what we know more then 1000 people passed
through her wake and hundreds attended her funeral. Without question,
she was loved.
I will in time post photos of the vehicle Sammy was in. I am just waiting
until we get through the trial. I don't want anything to interfere with this
case so for the time being I have to keep these photos to myself.
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