Published in the Citizen Herald Mar. 26, 2008
By Deb Holt
The day Cade Nolan became a hero started just like any other.
It was November 24, 2007. He was riding in the van with his mother, Rachelle, his brothers, four-year-old Gavin and one-year-old Tyler, and his six-month-old baby sister, Ava.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining.
Mom had been shopping the early-morning, day-after-Thanksgiving sales, and now the family was on their way home to Jesup from their Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Evansdale.
Seven-year-old Cade was happily eating an order of chicken nuggets.
Then, it happened.
Something hit the van, spun it around on the highway, and knocked it into the ditch.
All the glass in the van’s windows shattered.
“Mommy! What happened?” yelled Cade.
The accident
What happened was a serious accident. A man from Missouri, who was working on power lines with MidAmerican Energy, apparently ran the stop sign at the intersection of Hwy. 939 and Canfield Road.
He was driving a big, Ford 450 flatbed truck. Because he tried to swerve at the last second, the front of the Nolans’ van struck the truck’s rear tire.
The van then landed in the ditch — facing north— on the southeast side of the intersection.
Rachelle is not sure if she was ever unconscious, but she said if she was, it was for just a few seconds.
She heard Cade calling “Mommy.” She couldn’t move.
She could see that Ava’s car seat was tilted to its side.
“I told Cade someone hit us,” Rachelle recalled. “He unbuckled himself [from his booster seat], and straightened up Ava’s car seat.”
Rachelle asked Cade to check his brothers and sister, to talk to them and to make sure they weren’t hurt and that they were awake.
Cade had a cut over his right eye from the shattered glass, but the other children were unhurt.
“Gavin started to cry,” said Cade, as he tried to remember details from that day. “Mom and I yelled for help.”
Rescue
Help came from many directions for the Nolans.
One of the first people on the scene was an off-duty sheriff’s deputy.
The men from MidAmerican who were working nearby came to help, and a good friend of the Nolans who had been driving by stopped to give assistance.
People on the scene removed a broken window from the van.
Cade unbuckled Gavin and Tyler, and helped guide them through the window to the people outside the van.
He said a man came inside the van to get Ava.
The children were put inside a truck cab to wait for the ambulance.
Even though Cade had just been through a jolting accident, he was bleeding, and he knew his mother was still trapped inside the wrecked van, he continued to help his rescuers.
He told them his dad was at his grandma’s, provided them with phone numbers and address, and told them who the family doctor was.
Probably the most important information he provided, however, was that his brother Gavin has hemophilia. He showed the rescuers Gavin’s wrist bracelet that tells about the special medicine he needs.
Rachelle explained that Gavin’s blood lacks the ingredient that causes clotting, so he takes Factor 8 treatments.
Thankfully, he’d received a treatment the day before.
Rachelle had to be removed from the van by the Jesup Fire Department’s jaws of life.
She sustained a broken left femur, a collapsed lung, seven broken ribs, a broken thumb, contusions of her liver and spleen, and multiple bruising on her legs from being trapped.
She had to be airlifted to Covenant Medical Center.
The children were transported to Covenant by the Jesup Ambulance.
Gavin was kept overnight for observation. Once again being the protective big brother, Cade spent the night with Gavin in his hospital room. The children’s grandmother also stayed with them.
“That night when I closed my eyes, I saw glass and blood,” recalled Cade. “I was glad when Grandma took me to see Mom.”
Aftermath
Rachelle stayed in the hospital for three weeks. She came home the week before Christmas, then was confined to the couch in her living room for quite some time.
She took physical therapy for two months, two times a week, and just recently had knee surgery. She has a rod inside her thigh, and has not yet returned to work.
Rachelle worked for Dr. RWH Clinic for Women at Covenant as an obstetric technician, and was a full-time nursing student until the accident. She plans to return to school in April.
Cade’s dad, Ricky, admitted it was a challenge to care for four young children during those days after the accident.
“People would talk about things that were going to happen a week or two weeks from now,” he said. “I told them to tell me the day before. I took things one day at a time, then.”
Ricky said he relied on Rachelle’s mom, his parents, and his sister to get through those first weeks.
Rachelle added that people from Jesup offered to come over and stay with the children when needed. They brought meals, money and cards.
People from the churches in Jesup were so helpful to the family.
She said her co-workers went together and bought gifts for the Nolan children for Christmas. Because of the accident, Rachelle had never completed her holiday shopping.
Also, Sam’s Club provided the family with six boxes of food and clothes at Christmas time.
The Jesup School students held a special fundraiser to help the family as well.
Special award
Cade was surprised at the March 6 Blue & Gold Banquet for the Scouts in Jesup.
He was presented with the “Scout Hero of the Year” award. Amy Simon, the Sun Rivers District Executive, presented the award to Cade, in a special ceremony attended by his fellow Scouts, friends and family.
“I couldn’t even talk,” said Cade. “I was surprised.”
“He was a little embarrassed to have people talking about him, but he’s pretty proud of it,” said Ricky.
Cade’s award is proudly displayed in his living room.
Training
Just one week before the Nolans’ accident, Cade, Gavin and their dad, took a field trip to the Jesup Fire and Ambulance departments with the Scouts.
Cade had seen the inside of the ambulance and the jaws of life prior to the accident.
He even recognized “Emily’s dad” [Scott Schabacker] when he arrived on the accident scene. He was one of the people who talked to the Scouts that day.
“Always buckle up,” advised Cade. “And sit in a car seat. If you don’t have one, tell your mom and dad you need a car seat.”
“We want to thank everyone,” said Rachelle. “We are so lucky to live in Jesup, especially at a time like this. It’s a great community.” |
