What Happened??

Hi Everyone,

It has now been over 5 1/2 weeks since the accident in Don Schirr's beautiful 2011 Kenworth T660
18-wheeler on September 16, 2011 at 11:58PM near Kingman, Arizona at the 82 mile marker on I-40 Eastbound.  So much has happened here at Sunrise Medical Center where Don was airlifted from the scene of the accident.  Many of you have written or called asking "What Happened?" so I will attempt to give you the story of the accident itself for your own clarification.  For those of you that have not seen any pictures of the accident thus far, I have attached the Word Document that shows the "BEFORE" and "AFTER" pictures of the truck.  No photos of Don's injuries are included because most people would not be able to handle the graphic sights.

THE BACKGROUND OF THE TRUCKING ACCIDENT STORY:
Don and I were planning on taking a week's vacation the first week of October, 2011 and usually when we take vacations Don just parks his 18-wheeler and we go on vacation.  Well, he had just acquired a dedicated run from Noel, Missouri to Riverside, California and back to Ocheleta, Oklahoma each week.  He had previously just driven all over the United States, coast to coast, and every run was quite different and not predictable.  He really loved this new route and it afforded him the privilege of being home for about 1 1/2 days every week for the first time in 42 years of driving.  With Don and I just being married 2 years on August 28, 2009 this was a dream come true for us!  He got to thinking that he would like to keep this route going even while we were on vacation but he never trusted anyone to drive his truck before.  He announced one day that he had an idea that we both thought was great.  He would ask his long time friend, David Terry, to drive the route during the week we were on vacation.  David was a veteran truck driver with 40 years of accident free driving and was retired from the same company Don pulls his loads for.  David was retired for about 4 years and Don and David used to convoy together over the years when David was trucking cross-country like Don.  Don really enjoyed David's company and knew he was a very safe driver and was neat and clean and Don knew he would take excellent care of our new truck.

THE TRUCKING STORY AS IT BEGAN:
On Tuesday, September 13, 2011, Don took me to the airport early in the morning in Tulsa, Oklahoma as I had been out on the truck with him for about 6 weeks and I was flying back to Lexington, Kentucky for a couple of weeks before flying back to Tulsa when I would meet up with Don to go on our vacation.  That same day Don went to his insurance agent and added David as a driver onto the insurance policy and then he proceeded on to Noel, Missouri where David Terry met up with Don for a familiarization trip to California to see where Don dropped his loads off and where he picked up his new load to return to Oklahoma.  David was so excited that Don had asked him to do this route for him and they had such a wonderful time together on their journey to California.  It was a pretty easy route for even just one driver so now that they had two drivers it was easy for them both to just stay awake together and then sleep in the bunks at the same time.  Donnie had talked with me on the phone and said that he just couldn't sleep while the truck was moving because he was not used to that.  He said that he doesn't sleep like I do and since it was a route that didn't require an extra driver they just stayed up together and caught up on old times.

They got to Riverside, California on schedule to deliver early on Friday morning and by late afternoon they were loaded to go back to Oklahoma.  The usual stop on the way out of California was in Barstow, California where they both took showers (as Don and I always did) and ate a nice meal there at the truck stop.  Don called me as they were leaving the truck stop and walking back out to the truck for the night of driving back to Oklahoma.  He told me that David was going to drive from that point and that he would probably drive to Flagstaff, Arizona or a little further.   Don said that he was tired and he said his good night speech he gives me every night and off they went on their journey.  Since they had two drivers the two of them decided that they would drive on through as a team and get to Tulsa, Oklahoma by Sunday morning and then they could get in the pickup and Don would drive David 1/2 way to his home in Southwest, Missouri where David's wife Kay would meet them and take David the rest of the way home.

Don then went into the sleeper part of the truck and went into a deep sleep.  The driving time from Barstow, California to Kingman, Arizona is about 4 hours.  The accident happened about 30 miles past Kingman, Arizona (East of Kingman) at mile marker 82.  Nobody really knows what happened because THERE WAS NO OTHER VEHICLE INVOLVED IN THE ACCIDENT.  Also, David Terry and Don were both thrown from the vehicle and David Terry was killed instantly.  Since Don was sleeping he has no idea what happened.  In fact, as far as his memory goes he went to sleep in the sleeper and woke up in Sunrise Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The autopsy of David Terry will not be released until November so until that is released the cause of the accident is not known.   What we do know is that the road takes a pretty sharp curve to the right and is in a 75 MPH zone and David did not take the curve but went straight.  When the truck hit the dirt in the median he tried to steer out of it and then the truck rolled, the trailer separated from the tractor and then the cab rolled again on its top and slid for quite a distance.  Don was found with the trailer on a metal grate in the ground on a bunch of the lettuce that was spilled out from the load and David was over 100 feet away in front of the tractor.

Officer Timmerman of the Arizona Highway Patrol received only one call saying, "there is an accident at mile marker 82 on I-40 Eastbound in the median and there is smoke coming from the wreckage."  That is the only call that came in at all on this accident as it is very dark and in a very mountainous area and not real visible with very little traffic at night.  Officer Timmerman reported to me in person that he drove 120 MPH to get to the site.  It took him about 12 minutes to get there.  He said it looked like a war zone and he knew there could not be anyone alive in this wreck.  However, he did call out, "Is there anyone out here?"  Don called out, "I'm over here, I need some help."  Don did talk with the officer for about 40 minutes while the helicopter and paramedics were on the way and working on him.  Don only mentioned that he was cold so the officer put a blanket on him.  Don had 5 huge lacerations on his head alone and a huge hole in his buttocks.  The officer did not expect Don to live after seeing him in all the blood and packed with dirt.  The helicopter flew Don to the best trauma center in the area which was Sunrise Medical Center even though Phoenix, Arizona was closer they knew he would need extra special care.  We are so thankful they flew him here even though we live in Mesa, Arizona and it would be close to home.

Don arrived here in Las Vegas about 1:15AM.  In the meantime, Officer Timmerman was digging through wreckage to try to find identification or cell phones or something to work with.  Don was sleeping in his underwear and his wallet was never recovered so they did not even have positive identification of him.  He was listed at the hospital as Trauma Chad until we could get a picture ID of him to prove who he was.  Officer Timmerman found a blue cell phone and looked through the list of names and found a listing named "Sweetie".  He called the number from his own cell phone and it connected with me in Lexington, Kentucky.  It was now 3AM Pacific Time which was 6AM Eastern Time in Kentucky.  I was sleeping but answered the phone.  When I answered all he said was, "Who am I speaking with?"  I said, "Who are you?"  He said, "I am Officer Timmerman from the Arizona Highway Patrol, do you know a Leon David Terry?"  I said, "Well, I didn't know his first name was Leon but I know of a David Terry, why?"  He said, "There's been an accident and I need to contact the family do you have a phone number or address for a Leon David Terry?"  I said, "AN ACCIDENT??!!!, what about Don Schirr?"  He said, "How do you know Don Schirr?"  I said, "He is my husband."  He said, "Oh, Don is in critical condition and was flown to Las Vegas, do you have any information on Leon David Terry?"   I said, "What happened to David Terry?"  He said, "He was killed instantly."  I said, "Oh My God!!!!!!!  Oh, no!!!  I don't know what to do!"  I did not have even a phone number for David and it was a Saturday morning so I could not even get in touch with the insurance agent or anything!!!!!!!  This was terrible!!!

From that point on I tried to find anything at all on David Terry but knew nothing.  I didn't even know where he lived exactly.  I thought he lived in Oklahoma but it was actually Missouri.  I knew his wife's name was Kay and I knew their ages only because we had talked about it the week before.  I searched the Internet, files my computer and could find nothing.  In the mean time I was hyperventaling about Donnie.  I called my Mom in Florida and was panic-stricken and told her what happened and that I didn't know what to do.  I was trying to find information for the police on David Terry and I needed to get a flight to Las Vegas and I was in tears and was in a panic!!!!!   My Mom said she would book me a flight a
nd call me back.  In the meantime the officer was calling me every 10 minutes to see if I found anything out about David Terry.  After about the 4th call I answered enough questions for him and he finally found the right address so he could send officers out to the house to tell Kay that her husband had passed away.

At 7:00PM my Mom and my baby sister Julie arrived at the airport from Winter Haven, Florida and I arrived 4 minutes later.  We rushed to the hospital with our luggage in tow and found out that Don had just been taken into surgery just 15 minutes prior to us getting there.  He was bleeding terribly from the wound in his buttocks and had to go to surgery to stop the bleeding.

The rest, as they say, is history.  As you will see from the pictures, IT IS AN ABSOLUTE MIRACLE THAT DON IS ALIVE.

For "The Rest of The Story" on a daily basis and pictures please visit our blogsite at:
http://schirrecovery.blogspot.com/?spref=gr#close=1

Keep the above link so you can keep up to date on a daily basis with what is happening and see any additional photos as well.