Welcome back to
Families 4 Heaven.
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We have with us as our
guests Bootie Frances and Carter
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Frances, and just before
the break Carter was about to
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share with us what
happened after the crash.
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Carter: on May 17, 1998
I had just come home from a
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church board meeting
to meet Booty at home
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to go visit the sick.
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Nellie and I had just got into
the house and we received a call
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saying that Bootie and
Pauline was in an accident.
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Those are Bootie sisters.
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So we thought it was
just a fender bender.
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So we got in the car and
we went out, it was just about
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a mile from home.
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When we got there Bootie
was still trapped in the car.
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The car was crushed like I
would've crushed a piece of
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paper in my hand.
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There were four fire units
there and maybe about 15 or 20
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police men and they were
cutting, cutting the car with a
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saw, one of those metal saws.
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And Bootie was tapping
with her right hand on the
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side of the car.
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I went there to ask a
policeman to just let me speak
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to her because if
she hears my voice
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she would be comfortable.
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One gentleman who was
there saw me and he said,
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sir do you pray?
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I said, yes I am a praying man.
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So he gathered those
who were there, about eight
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individuals came around
and they started praying for us
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while we were crying.
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About five minutes after
that they finally cut Bootie out
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of the car and put
her in the ambulance.
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I went to the gentleman
who was putting her in the
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ambulance and said, I
would like to get into the
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ambulance with her.
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He said, no sir
you can't get there.
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So I just left them and
went and opened the front of the
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ambulance and sat down in
the ambulance and they did what
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they had to do and when
they came back they saw me
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sitting in the ambulance.
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They say what are
you doing here sir?
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I said I'm going to
the hospital with my wife.
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They said, just buckle up
your seat belt and they took us
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to the hospital.
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They took her into
the emergency room.
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I wanted to go inside with
her, but the gentleman said,
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no sir, you
cannot get inside here.
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He said no visiting, only
employees are allowed inside
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here, so they took
me into a waiting room.
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Alanzo: so you waited?
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I waited there for a little
while, but within that period
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of time, I don't know how,
even my church family got the
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news and all my family members.
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But within 15 or 20
minutes I was there that whole
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waiting room was filled
with members from the church.
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Family members, coworkers
from Bootie's workplace, and the
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Pastor Winston, he is
known as secretary of the South
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Atlantic conference who
came there and prayed with us.
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They prayed and finally the
doctor came out who was looking
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after Bootie and said to me,
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Mr. Frances,
your wife is very ill.
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I said, can you tell
me what is wrong with her?
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He said first I can tell
you she may lose her left arm.
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It is almost severed from
her so she may lose her left
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arm and she has a
lot of broken bones.
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We don't really do a CAT
scan with her yet so we don't
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know how bones are broken.
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She has a lot of broken
bones and she is bleeding from
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her brain.
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Soon the hospital room
was filled with people.
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It was overflowed, so they
took me upstairs to a bigger
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waiting room and
they placed us there.
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While we were there, Bootie
was in ICU, she was placed
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in the ICU and her
sister was also ICU.
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Finally the doctor came
out and said Mr. Frances, your
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wife is in a coma.
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She has damage to her brain.
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Her left arm is broken
and we had to put a plate in
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her left hip.
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We had to put a pin in her
left leg and both knees are
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broken and both arms are broken.
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Alanzo: we are talking
about When Tragedy Strikes,
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The Morning after.
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Carter has been sharing
with us his painful experience
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of the tragic mishap of
his wife in an auto accident.
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As you listen to her
story, maybe you are identifying
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with your own family issue,
or maybe a personal issue.
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We want you to understand
that there is always hope.
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Let's continue to listen
to Carter as he shares with us
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what happened after
his wife went into ICU.
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Mr. Frances: We spent all
night at the hospital and now
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she was in a coma.
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I went home and I think that
was maybe the worst experience
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I have ever had.
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I walked in the house and
it was as if I was just alone
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even though other
members of my family were there.
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So I started reasoning with God.
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I remember that morning we
had worship and among the two
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things we asked God for
was protection for that day.
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Also to give us strength
to go visit a sick person whom
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we promised to visit.
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Alanzo: was it
shaking your faith?
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Mr. Frances: I was questioning,
why did this happen to my
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wife even though we had
just asked You for protection
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and guidance?
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Dr. June: so you had some anger?
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Mr. Frances: I felt some anger.
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Alanzo: is that, Dr.
June, a normal reaction when a
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individual is going through
a crisis and especially a
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situational crisis that
anger is involved within that?
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Dr. June: that is a normal
part of the cycle, usually
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it is just disbelief,
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you can't believe
this has happened.
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Once you get to the knowledge
that this is really what
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is happening then you
begin to feel emotions of anger.
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Alanzo: we have spoken on
an earlier show about the act
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of denial, and now we
are talking about anger.
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So you are going through
this, what happened in the end?
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Bootie and I had a practice
that we study, special Bible
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texts and every morning
we would study those text.
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Among those text, two of
those text came right to mind
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at that hour, Proverbs 3:5-6.
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"Trust in the Lord with
all your heart, and lean not"
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"to your own understanding,
in all thy ways acknowledge"
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"Him, and He will
direct thy paths. "
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Alanzo: so you found
strength from that text?
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I found strength in that
text and I started reasoning
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with God and then I said
God what is going to happen?
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Am I going to lose my wife?
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That is the way I
was talking to God.
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The text Matthew 19:26 came to
mind, "what is impossible with"
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"men is possible with God. "
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Alanzo: so you are going
through your struggle and your
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deep faith in God
is now challenged.
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So you have to go into the
reservoir to find something
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to hold you together.
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At the same time she is
lying in a hospital room.
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Was she there for a
week, two weeks and then out?
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That was a long haul, a
beginning of a long experience.
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She was in a coma
for six weeks, six weeks.
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During those six weeks,
those were long days and nights
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for me and in the hospital.
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I remember I never even
slept in our room any night out
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of those 6 to 3 months.
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I would not even face the room.
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I slept on the
couch every night.
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I woke up every morning at
five o'clock with the birds
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and I prayed, I began to
ask for specific, specific
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things in my life.
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I said my wife is in the
hospital and I need to see her
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open her eyes, that is
all I need is to see her open
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her eyes.
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Alanzo: so Carter you
visit your wife daily and spend
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hours, and she is not
conscious of what is going on?
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Mr. Frances: she is not
conscious of what is going on.
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Six weeks pass
and nothing happens?
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Mr. Carter: nothing
happens and the fifth week, I
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remember in the fifth
week, Dr. Smith, Pastor Hey and
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Pastor Conue Birch
visited me at home.
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They spent five days with
me and they said, Carter we are
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here to support you and
we would like to go to the
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hospital to anoint your wife.
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I said that I welcomed
the idea, but I need to make
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arrangements and so I
went to the hospital and made
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arrangements with the doctors.
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Alanzo: you got the permission
and you had the anointing
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with prayer.
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Mr. Frances: with
prayer, we prayed.
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Mr. Frances: within two
days the neurosurgeon called me
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and said, Mr. Frances we
took your wife and did a CAT
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scan on her and found
that she has some fluid on her
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brain and it is possible
that fluid might be preventing
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her from waking out of a coma.
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We need to go in and drain
her brain and see what happens
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from there.
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Alanzo: did he do that?
Mr. Frances: yes he did that.
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Alanzo: what's the result?
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Mr. Frances: in two
days my wife woke up.
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I went in to see her
one day and my wife...
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Alanzo: stay right there.
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