December 2000 Letter from Bob Peach

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from the Peach family from beautiful Ohio.  At the moment it is snowing and the temperature is a little below 20 degrees.  This will not go in the mail until after Christmas, but we wish everyone a wonderful holiday season.  It has been several years since we have mustered the energy and organization to send greetings.  The last two years have been, to put it bluntly, two years from hell!  It is only by the grace of God given on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis that has kept us functioning.   Cherylin’s traumatic brain injury has changed all of our lives forever.  For those who are unaware of her accident or hazy about it, a brief summary:  on February 5, 1999 Cherylin was catastrophically brain injured in a car accident.  She was traveling by herself between speech therapy patients, as a therapist with Kettering Medical Center Home Care.  She somehow lost control of her car traveling on northbound I-75 just south of Dayton, spun across the grassy median and was struck in the southbound lanes by a pick-up truck.  She was ejected through the driver’s side window (breaking the glass with the left front side of her head).  She was helicoptered from the crash site to a nearby hospital.  It was a miracle that she survived the crash, and that she also survived emergency brain surgery to relieve bleeding.  Over the next 10 months she was continuously hospitalized in a succession of facilities.  She came home a little before Thanksgiving of 1999, having made show, but steady progress.  She has needed someone with her since her return home.  She walks a bit with assistance, but her eyesight is very poor, as is her short-term memory, speech, balance, and right side fine motor control.  She recognizes family members and gives wonderful hugs and kisses and often amazes us with her long-term memory.  She can play the piano a little bit, but the right hand just does not do what she wants it to do.  She developed a seizure disorder after returning home and is currently taking several medications to control this.  Recently she has been quite fatigued and somewhat less responsive, perhaps medication problems or shunt malfunctioning.  I’m praying that God will continue her healing.  Your prayers are also welcome toward this end.  Thanks to Lynette and Dick, Cherylin’s sister and brother-in-law, for creating a web-page for Cherylin’s journey:  www.calpoly.edu/~lklooste The details of her experiences can be found there.  Thanks to Jud Klooster for providing the updates.

I am in my twelfth year with Kettering Medical Center as director of the Kettering Clergy Care Center.  Our mission is to provide counseling and support services to church professionals and family.  I also see general counseling clients through the Center as a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor.   Over the last three years I have gone from a weight of 238 pounds to about 194.  I swear that I started working on this before the accident, but the stress in my life certainly has been an effective appetite suppressant.  I joke that I will become rich by publishing, “The Peach (Life is the Pits) Maximum Stress Weight Loss Program.”  Can I put you down for a copy?  Seriously, I do cope by regular jogging and weight training, the support of a super team of relatives, and some amazing Christians at work and in my community.  Also I’m blessed with In-Home caregivers 40+ hours each week, all the medical professionals who are providing care for Cherylin, and the hugs, pats and kisses she liberally bestows on me.  And do you know Who else?  Jesus.  I previously knew all ABOUT Him.  But now, I’m coming to know HIM.  Like Job told God, “In the past I have heard about you, but now I’ve seen you with my own eyes.”  It is amazing how pain focuses your attention on what is most important in your life.

Angela, my oldest daughter, graduated last year from Southern Adventist University with a major in English and a minor in history.  She is a gifted communicator, both written and verbal.  I am also astounded by her catering skill.  She has become a wonderful chef – producing a Christmas open house and buffet at our place for about 50 the week before Christmas.  Wonderful comments came from all of our guests.  She is presently looking at various part-time and temporary jobs.  It’s selfish of me, I know, but it is great to have her back in Dayton.  I really appreciate her support.  But I want her to follow God’s direction for her future wherever that may lead.

Kelly is currently a Junior at Union College in Lincoln, NE.  After two years at S.A.U. she decided it was time for a change.  She is enjoying her studies at U.C. but had the rude awakening of finding that it is colder and snowier in Nebraska than in Tennessee.  When she arrived on campus she only knew a few people, but made the varsity women’s volleyball team right away, and found that being on the team made it much easier to make new friends.  She is a Computer Graphic Design major and is thrilled to have acquired a new MAC G4 computer.  When I asked what was wrong with getting a normal Windows PC, I was informed that the MAC is the preferred instrument for Graphic Designers.  She works part time on campus in the college advancement office.  In addition, she was pleased to have one of her contract teachers offer her a part-time job in his graphic design business.  She is flying from Dayton to Minneapolis over Christmas to visit her boyfriend and his family.

Well, I hope this little update lets you know that the Peach family hasn’t dropped off the edge of the world.  We are so grateful for the love of each friend and family member.  Keep the love and prayers coming our way!

With Love – Bob

3/9/99 Letter from Bob Peach

Thanks so much for the expression of your love and support during a trying time for me and my family.  We are doing as well as can be expected.  God’s grace is becoming more and more a present reality for us.  Jesus gives us the strength that we need for each day as it comes.  It is currently day 32 (3-9-99) since her car accident on February 5 on I-75 near downtown Dayton, OH.  She was going from one Speech Therapy home care patient to the next in her work with Kettering Medical Center Home Care.  Somehow she lost control of her car, skidded across the grassy median into the South bound lane of traffic.   Her car spun around in the skid and was hit in the left rear of her car at an angle.  She was ejected through the driver’s side window suffering severe trauma to the left front side of her head and a rebound injury and bleed on the other side of her head.  I believe she was unconscious from the time she hit the window.  She underwent neuro-surgery that day to remove the blood clot that resulted on the right side of her head.  As far as I know the woman driving the pick-up truck that struck her was taken by ambulance to the hospital, examined and released that same day.  Cherylin was airlifted by helicopter from the accident scene to Miami Valley Hospital close by in Dayton.

The first 10 days were critical.  She was then transferred from trauma ICU to a step down advanced neuro care unit on Feb. 15.  The doctors are always cautious about prognosis..  Her head injuries are severe and she remains in a coma.  But she continues to make small steps of encouraging progress each day.  She had a pneumonia develop about Feb. 15 and 16 and was successfully treated aggressively with antibiotics Feb. 16, 17, and 18.  Regular antibiotics were discontinued on March 2 because she was doing well with normal temp and good white cell count.  Sunday Feb. 21 Cherylin underwent reconstructive skull and facial surgery to stabilize the bones that were smashed in her accident.  The surgeon was pleased with the results.  March 4 the neuro-surgeon successfully implanted a hydro-cephalic shunt.  March 6 a CT scan showed the shunt was working, but revealed that there was a fracture on the right side of her face in a sinus which was letting air into her skull.  Therefore, she underwent a fourth surgery March 7 to put patches on both the top and bottom side of the fracture.  She has responded well to this surgery and is out of ICU and back to the neuro unit.

We have had an awesome avalanche of notes, phone calls, cards and visitors. I am amazed at how much people care about Cherylin, me and our daughters Angela and Kelly.  Our Church, the Kettering SDA Church, has been wonderfully supportive with food, visits, cards, prayers, and love.  The Church office also has kindly agreed to be a phone contact point for those who want an update on Cherylin’s condition day by day, (937) 298-2167. This office is also serving as a mail box for Cherylin, 3939 Stonebridge Rd., Kettering, OH  45419.  In addition, my  sister-in-law and brother-in-law are kindly maintaining a web site that contains updates about Cherylin: http://www.calpoly.edu/~lklooste/.

I can’t tell you how much it means to receive the love and support of people in our own church, other area churches, the churches Cherylin has served as organist, her American Guild of Organists chapter, neighbors, her co-workers, friends, and classmates from school long ago. We thank them all for their love.  We thank God for what He is doing for us through others and in caring for Cherylin.  It is a miracle that she did not die instantly in the car accident from the head trauma.  Each day of her life is another miracle.  I’m praying that God will do the best thing for her and for us all.  But what I want is for her to smile at me again.  Her night nurse said, "I just feel in my gut that you are going to get your wife back again, Mr. Peach."  I pray to the Lord that her feeling is prophetic.

My mother, Clara Peach, came February 15 to give me a hand with the responsibilities I must juggle.  Having her here is a real boost to me.  Cherylin’s parents, Jud & Arlene Klooster arrive about March 10 for a visit to help encourage her recovery.

Thanks again for thinking about us all.  Keep praying and ask others to do the same.

--Bob Peach