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Hello friends and family,

As many of you know by now, John Harwell, my dad, was involved in a serious accident on Friday and is currently in ICU care at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. My family and I are overwhelmed by the amount of care and concern we have received, and words will never describe how grateful we are to each of you who have reached out. We thought it would be best to share a full update so that you all can be aware of his condition and know how best to pray for him.

Around 3:45pm on Friday, October 25th, Dad was riding his motorcycle into town in Lenoir about 5 minutes from home. He had just left a gas station, driven through an intersection and was in the left lane heading southbound on US-321 when a car failed to yield, merged over from the right lane, and struck him. This immediately threw him from his bike. The car’s front passenger tire ran over him and, according to witnesses, dragged his body across multiple highway lanes before coming to a stop and pinning him under the right rear passenger tire.

Witnesses to the accident immediately rushed to help, including 2 of our long-time family friends who just happened to be sitting at the intersection dad had just driven through. They and others managed to instruct the driver, who was in shock, to remove his foot from the brake and several people rolled the car back so dad could be pulled from underneath it.

Thankfully, there is a fire department located at the intersection near the accident, so medical help was on the scene almost immediately. My mom, Laura, and my youngest sister, Emma, were at the scene just as they were loading Dad into the ambulance. He was conscious and Mom was able to tell him she loved him. My sister said it took her a moment to even recognize my dad because he was so gray. The paramedics informed them they would most likely be airlifting him to Charlotte, so my siblings and I all met at Mom and Dad’s house to regroup and drove to CMC once we were sure he was being taken there.

By the time we arrived, they had done all of his preliminary scans and x-rays and had already put him through his first emergency surgery to attempt to stop internal bleeding from his spleen. Dad sustained severe injuries including damage to his spleen, colon, pancreas, ribcage, sternum, and respiratory system. Since Friday, he has undergone a total of 4 surgeries with at least 1 more to go before he can be moved from the ICU to a regular room.

The procedures that these surgeries have entailed are almost too numerous to keep up with at this point, but among them, he has had:

-His spleen plugged, then later completely removed

-A small portion of his pancreas removed

-A portion of his bowels removed and a temporary colostomy bag put in that will be removed in 6 months - 1 year

-The right side of his ribcage repaired by inserting permanent titanium plating on multiple ribs

-A ventilator put in on minimal settings to assist with his breathing

He is expected to go back into surgery again tomorrow (Tuesday) to repair the left side of his ribcage separately and we will receive an updated course of action afterwards based on how that procedure goes. The doctors felt this was the best course of action so as not to put too much stress on his body with one very long surgery on his entire ribcage.

Despite all of this and how horrific it is, the entire trauma care team here at CMC (who have all been beyond amazing) have reassured us that he WILL make a full recovery. The journey to get there will just be a long, difficult one that will involve an extended hospital stay and possibly a stay at a rehab facility afterwards. We are estimating that it will be 2+ months before he will be able to officially come home.

As I write this, it seems almost impossible that all of this has taken place just within the last 72 hours. The amount of shock, tears, information, etc. that we have had to process as a family has been overwhelming at times, but we have also been looking for any rays of hope that we can find to hold onto. When I think of the positive news that we have been given, I know it is proof of God’s mercy and protection on Dad’s life:

-He has no brain injuries or head trauma

-He has no neck/spinal injuries

-He has no heart damage

-His kidneys are working perfectly

-His liver had only a minor laceration that does not affect functioning and will heal on it’s own

-His limbs had no breaks or fractures

God is so good. ♥️

So many of you have called, texted, visited, and gifted us everything from hotel rooms to snacks to coffee. We have been amazed at the amount of love and support that has been shown for dad (and us) and we will be forever grateful.

Many of you have continued to ask about additional ways you can help, and as Dad comes through his remaining surgery and we begin the long road to recovery, the financial burden of his medical bills will become a reality. We’ve set up a GoFundMe to help ease some of these financial burdens allowing him and our family to focus fully on his recovery. Your thoughts, prayers, and any support you can offer mean the world to him and to all of us.

Thank you for standing with us as we navigate this challenging journey together. We pray that God blesses you all abundantly.

Sarah (Harwell) Coffey