Guest Blog by Lucretia Marie
I had just moved to Lehigh Acres, Florida, with my husband and four children. We were starting off a new journey where we didn’t know anyone, but we had rented a beautiful house in a beautiful area—and life was great.
Nine days later, we were in a horrible car accident while on our way to enroll our kids in school. We were rushed to the hospital, but my husband and I were taken to one, and our children were sent to another location. I had broken my back and four ribs and had a collapsed lung, and I wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital to get to my babies. My husband underwent emergency surgery and was placed in the ICU. Our family was notified, but they needed a few days to make it down to us.
My kids were scared, alone at an unknown hospital. My daughter had been life-flighted with a broken femur and lacerations to her face. I was told children’s services could intervene to help, but I didn’t want to scare them more. We barely knew anyone yet—we had briefly talked to one neighbor.
Out of nowhere, I received a call from my guardian angel Megan Rose. (The hospital had referred Lucretia to Better Together.) She explained her church and others in the area were tied to a group that helped in situations like this. She drove over with one of the caregivers, Charlene Price, and her husband to do the paperwork with me and assured me my babies were in good hands. My oldest two boys went with Charlene and her husband for the next two days, while my youngest two kids stayed in the children’s hospital.
Megan called me every day to keep me updated. My oldest two children were brought to me every day, flowers in hand, with prayers and smiles. Charlene and her husband took my boys clothes shopping, on adventures to the park, and they even went swimming in the “huge” pool, as my kids now describe it. Today, Charlene and I remain friends.
Megan came to me on the third day and told me it was time for my two little ones to be discharged and that she had found a home through their organization for them until my family got into town. I didn’t want my daughter with anyone else but Megan due to the surgery my baby had just had—I didn’t trust anyone but the woman I had met only three days prior. I feel selfish now thinking back, but to me, she was the best person to care for my daughter. Megan, pregnant and all, took on the role, scooped my little girl and her brother up—wheelchair in tow—and carried them home.
When I say there are angels walking this earth, I write through tears and pure gratitude in my heart. I don’t know what I would have done without them. They cared for my kids when I couldn’t, made them feel like family and rescued us in our darkest hour. God bless you all, for you will always be our angels.
Editor’s Note: Lucretia Marie wrote this a year after her family’s ordeal, but the three families remain connected to this day.
Posted May 6, 2022
