Hello, I'm Don Turner. I hope you can use my story to inspire and encourage others. If you find it to be encouraging and useful, please let me know.
On November 23, 1967; my mother, brother (11), and myself (9), went to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving dinner. As children, we looked forward to the fun we would have playing with our two uncles, Mark (13) and Jim (12). While preperations were being made for the dinner my brother and I, along with one of our uncles and three of his friends, went hiking. As my brother and I lived in the city of Stockton, we always enjoyed visiting the mountains of Pollack Pines. While hiking we came upon an irrigation ditch off to the side of an old abandoned flume, or chute. This flume ran down the mountainside and ended above a canyon cliff. The flume was not blocked off and all of us children were unaware of the danger it posed. All we could see was an old wooden square box which ran down the side of the canyon, the growth and surrounding vegetation didn't allow us to see where the flume ended, it looked completely harmless. Oblivious to the consequences, we started playing in it. We would get in it one at a time, slide down, grab a rafter across the top to stop us and then climb back out. The flume was slippery with moss that had grown over the years and when my turn came I slipped and missed the rafter. My uncle and brother jumped into the flume to try to catch me as the three frineds stood there helpelessy watching in disbelief. They heard our screams and when the screams suddenly stopped they ran hysterically back to their house, which was just behind my grandparents house.
The joyful Thanksgiving holiday was cut short. Pollock Pines only had a volunteer fire department and because of the holiday it was difficult to find people. Volunteers from the Conservation Camp and the Placerville area were eventually gathered for our rescue. We had slid 400 feet down the flume, doing about 50 mph when we shot out of the end of the flume. We then flew about 185 feet through the air to the bottom of the canyon, about 585 feet in all, where we landed in rocks and debris, (these figures are estimates given to us after tests were run with sacks of sand approximating our weight). My brother told me that he hit a tree on his way down, the tree saved his life but caused him hit bottom feet first, shattering his right leg. My uncle Mark hit a big boulder and was killed instantly. I landed on my back on the rocks and debris. I broke my leg and neck, paralyzing my right side and was in a coma for a month. I had a 4 inch gash on my leg and a 3 inch cut on my head, causing me to lose a lot of blood.
When the volunteers finally arrived, they tried unsuccesfully to revive my uncle. They helped my brother, who was in severe shock and thought he was dreaming. They said that I was a bloody mess, I had a lump where my neck was broken and it was partially blocking my breathing. They put us on stretchers and carried us out of the canyon. My heart stopped 4 times before they could get us to Marshal hospital, but they didn't have the equipment to treat me there so I was sent to Sacramento for the care I needed. They postponed my uncles funeral for 5 days waiting for me to die too. The doctors told my family that, if I even lived, I would be a vegetable for the rest of my life. I stayed in a coma until Christmas day. Christmas carolers came to the hospital to cheer the patients and it was to their songs that I woke from the coma. I remember tubes in my nose and a plastic sheet around my bed. I had two holes drilled in my head so that a neck brace could be put on me. As I was lying on the hospital bed, I remember thinking that I was a baby and I wanted a bottle. I wasn't aware of what had happened to me, my mind had wiped away the memory of the accident. Although severe brain damage and trauma had resulted, I don't remember any pain or fear. To this day I don't remember anything about the accident itself, other than I was pretty broken up. My grandparents came to see me in the hospital and I asked them to bring my uncles, Mark and Jim, with them the next time they came to visit. They didn't tell me that my uncle Mark was dead.
They let me go home on February 14, 1968. It was the first time I had seen my brother since the accident. While I was in the hospital I got a a vase full of flowers from my little league team, the Tigers. The vase was in the form of a catcher's mitt. Two months before the accident I had finished my first year of Little League Baseball. We had won the championship and I was the best pitcher in the league. The day after I arrived home I was sent to Kaiser Foundation hospital in Vallejo. For the next 4 months I did a workout 5 days a week for my rehabilitation. They had a gymnasium with a large staff of therapists from all over the world. One of my biggest accomplishments was learning to tie my shoes. I knew that I could learn to ride a bike again, even though the price to pay was skinned knees and elbows. But I did it! I knew I could swim if I tried, so I jumped in at the deep end of the pool. I swallowed about half of that pool's water, but I swam! They released me from that hospital on June15, 1968 and I started to attend a handicapped school in October. The next year I attended a regular school and in my junior year I got straight A's! Pretty good for a guy that wasn't supped to live or at best be a vegetable. Some people have to take medication or become hooked on pain killer, but I haven't had to do those things.
The Lord had touched me and made me whole. In 1972 I gave my heart to Jesus during a Sunday School class and from that day forward I have never been the same. I know that I am truly one of God's miracles and I am so grateful to be alive. I know that if it wasn't for the grace and mercy of God I wouldn't be here today. If it wan't for God sending his only Son to die for my sins, where would I be? Now I live for and through Him. I am so glad that I answered the call of God in my life. Thank you, Jesus. AMEN!
For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8-9
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
If you're lost and alone and want to know the peace of salvation you can say this simple prayer.
Lord Jesus, I believe you died for my sins and I ask Your forgiveness. I receive You now as my personal Savior and invite You to manage my life from this day forward. AMEN
