Story of Resilience - Family Car Accident

You never know when your life could change in a matter of seconds. Seantae Jackson is here to share her and her family's story of being involved in a major car accident Seantae, her husband, her friend, and her twin boys were involved in a head on collision. Through waking up after the accident to a traumatic scene, through many surgery's, and allowing for all emotions during healing, Seantae shares it all. Check out the Jacksons new foundation as well! The information in the resources below.

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Jen: Welcome to the Parents Place podcast with Hilary and Jen.

Hilary: Welcome to the podcast! Today we have one of our segments on resiliency, and we have a special guest with us today, Seantae Jackson. We are thrilled to have her with us and she I think you guys are going to be in for a treat today because she has quite the story that she wants to share. And so, with that being said, I think I'll just dive in and just turn it over to you and Seantae to let you tell a little bit about you and a little bit about your story.

Seantae: Thank you so much. So, I was super glad to be here and excited to spread the message of hope and how to work through hard things. I grew up in Salt Lake and moved up to Cache Valley and to go to school. I'm thirty-eight and have an awesome husband. We've been married for 17 years and we have five kids. We have twins that are 15. Twin boys and a man in the middle who is 12 and then twins at the bottom, boy girl that are nine.

Hilary: Two sets of twins, Oh my gosh.

Seantae: We've got a beautiful Oreo package there and we love it. We're super busy family. We love to do things outdoors. We love to do things together, and we spend a lot of time together as a family. We had told our oldest boys their names are Cameron and Owen, our twins. We told them when they started middle school that when they get good grades, we would reward them, that they would get to go on a backpacking trip with us just as the four of us or whoever got the good grades. It was just one of them and that was their incentive to do well. And they rose to the occasion, got four O's. They were not going to miss an opportunity to do that. So, we've been able to take them each summer backpacking. The summer of 2021, we were on our way to go on that backpacking trip and we decided also to invite my friend. Her name's Mel. She wanted to come and learn how to fish in the back country, and the boys were so excited to teach her how to do that. And we were going to the Wind Rivers, which is in Wyoming and it's my husband, Trevor. It's his very favorite place on Earth to be. So, he was excited to share that with them. And with Mel, I had been there with him before, and we go on to places that nobody ever goes. So, we knew we were going to be all alone and it was going to be so awesome. On our way driving, we were in Wyoming, we had just passed, Cokeville. We were coming up on Fossil Butte and then Kemmer was the next town. And it's the two-lane road. So, we're driving one way the other cars are driving the other way in the other lane. And there was a semi coming the other way and a vehicle went to pass a semi and failed to see us. So, they hit us head on at freeway speeds. They were accelerating to past the semi. We had seen them and tried to stop and it was like hitting a brick wall at one hundred and sixty miles an hour is the estimate. And we all blacked out instantly. And then when I woke. My son, Owen, was having a seizure and was covered in blood. Cameron was in shock he was talking with he didn't know what was happening. My husband was unconscious and his arms were over the airbag. And my friend Mel had somehow managed to get out of the vehicle because she knew that Owen was going to need care as quickly as possible once she got out, she was on the ground and couldn't move from there. I remembered where my phone was and miraculously, it was still in the same spot. I have no idea how everything else was outside of the car and called 9-1-1. I didn't know exactly what was going on. I still have a lot of memory loss and I knew we were in a car accident, but that was all I knew. So, when they asked where we were, I said, I don't know.

Hilary: Wyoming at all looks the same.

Seantae: Yeah, that's true. And a lot of people at that point, I don't know what the time lapse was at that point, but a lot of people had stopped to help us by then. And there was a man and I said, Here's the phone. Tell them where we are. Don't get off until help comes. From there, it was a horrific scene for all of us. The engine and the car was on top of my husband's lap. He was trapped. The engine started on fire. Apparently I told people to throw dirt on it to stop the fire. From there, they then everybody that had stopped knew Owen was really in bad shape, but also didn't want to move him. It was apparent that he had a lot of injuries, but they also didn't want him to stay in the vehicle if it was going to continue on fire. So they got him out and people broke the window and got Cameron out of the back side of the car. And the car did start on fire again. A semi-truck driver had an extinguisher in his car and was able to put it out. From there, we waited for help and we had some amazing responders come. A lot of miracles happen. My husband had to get cut out with the jaws of life. Some of us were transported to Kemmer and then life flighted from there. Some of us were life flighted immediately. Following that it was a whirlwind of nobody knows what happened to who. Because we were all just everybody was trying to save our life. It didn't matter who we were associated with or anything else there were. There was also five passengers in the other vehicle. So total there were 10 people. Oh, wow , wow . And it was a small place. And so it was really tricky to figure out how to triage. Luckily, we were life flighted to the University of Utah and Primary's, so we all ended up in the same place, which was really fortunate for us. My husband went straight into the ICU. He left straight from the scene, he had lost a lot of blood. He ended up breaking both of his femurs, the top part of his legs. The bottom part of the leg. His foot, his toes and arm a sternum. And they had to put traction in his legs so that he wasn't hitting and of those major veins went into surgery wasn't going to make it through. So, they had to pull him out, gave him more blood and then continued surgeries the next day to fix things. He was in the ICU for some time. And. My son, Owen was unconscious the whole time. He suffered a severe brain injury on every part of his brain, so both missed both hemispheres, a frontal lobe and the part that connects both sides. So therefore potential of every single thing being affected from it. He also broke his lower back and severed his optical nerve that hooks into his brainstem. He got put into a medically induced coma. And from there, his brain swelling still was so rapid and so quick that they had to continue to do more. So from there, they had to give him a paralytic. Even the smallest twitch of his muscles would cause his brain to swell more than it could handle. And that still wasn't enough. So then they had to drill in a volts to continue measuring. And then from there, they had to drill in. It's called an EV, which we called the brain drain to relieve some of that fluid. He stayed in a coma for nine days. Typically, the brain swelling peaks at about three days. And so the hope is after that, you can come out. That wasn't the case for him. He continued to have problems for a long time after he was out of his coma. He continued to progress while being able to get moved out of the ICU. My son, Cameron, and he broke his ankle and dislocated it. He actually got discharged from Kemmer. But the rest of his family was getting life flighted at that same time. So he was 14 at the time, all alone and in a horrible scene where he had sat and watched his dad almost die in front of his eyes. My friend Mel, the seatbelts separated everything from her abdominal wall. It completely obliterated everything. She had some major surgeries where they found how far everything got torn. If it would have been a millimeter further in either direction at what she would have bled out instantly. And she was also in the ICU and has continued to progress from there. I had a severely broken arm, broken pinky, dislocated elbow torn shoulder. Broken ribs and very bruised lungs, which is what my main concern was at about that moment. And so I also was life flighted. And we've just been taking it a day at a time since then.

Jen: So this was a year ago.

Seantae: Yeah, just over a year ago, July of 2021.

Hilary OK. There's so much going ahead at this point. First of all, we'll to get all my questions. But first of all, I think you are here, you're here and you're talking to us. And it's only been a year. And I think that's amazing. Thank you. That that's there has been so much that your family has gone through and will continue to go through this and you and you're here sharing your story. I mean, there's. I commend you for that. Thank you.

Jen: I sit here thinking, could I do that ? Like what? I mean, your friend knowing that your son needed help quickly to get herself out? I mean. That's just amazing. I mean, small little miracles there, I mean, it's just a millimeter here and a millimeter there.

Hilary: Yeah, you hear about these stories and you know you. There's been examples that I have heard from others in the past where, yes, like we shouldn't, we shouldn't have made it, you know, like different things like that, like you said, a millimeter this or that or that. And I just and I always love we hear this. You guys have all heard the quote from Mr. Rogers about the helpers. I just love hearing these examples, too of, like you said, people, there was a lot of people that stepped in automatically. And I'm sure as you continue to tell your story. They're going to continue to be a lot of people that step in and help, and I love hearing that when you go through a crisis and a traumatic event. So, I got to ask. I know this is like the end of the story, but how are you guys doing now?

Seantae: Well, that's the thing, everybody assumes that we are not at the ends where, like you said you, we shouldn't have made it. None of us should have made it in the first place. We shouldn't have ever woken up with hitting that kind of force. But we're not done. I have surgery in a week myself, so my husband just had surgery about a month ago, and we both don't have our function all the way back. Our son, Owen, still deals with brain injury affects. My son Cameron. He is an avid soccer player and having a messed up ankle is hard. Cameron and I have very strong PTSD. It's definitely something that this will be a part of us forever. We're hoping the physical parts will continue to get better, but we don't know that either, you know, but just keep seeing how that goes.

Hilary: Yeah, that's what I was going to ask is have they given you kind of a long-term diagnosis of things that will or will not fully recover?

Seantae: It's interesting because you can't call that, right? And the doctors know that, and they've seen with our family that we will not take no for it. They have seen they told my husband that it wouldn't be expected for him to try to take a step until nine months he took his first step at two. Granted, he was covered in boots and he had a walker and he almost passed out. But he did. He did, and he has not ran but shuffled a couple of races. And he, you know , we he's we continue to try to defy those odds. So although they say it's unlikely or this is the time for another study, we try really hard to not listen to them , but also be realistic to not get defeated. And that's what it is. So, it's kind of both.

Hilary: What about little? Well, he's not little. I was like little own, my little middle schooler, short term memory loss, long term developmental disorder.

Seantae: What are so Owen's 15 now. So, this was the summer right before their freshman year of high school and starting high school was rough. He got discharged from the hospital the day before his first day of high school would have been. It was really hard. Cameron, being a twin, had envisioned their first day of high school together. He had envisioned all sorts of things that you would get to experience as a twin, and a lot of that we haven't been able to have, although we've worked towards a lot of them as well. So, Owen's first year of high school, he started with a back brace. He started with an eye patch. He looked like a pirate. And that was the only way he could do it. And for brain stimulation, he could only handle a class a day for a long time. We tapered it up from there. At this point, he gets to go to school full time. He's in regular classes. He doesn't have deficits. He has things that affect him and will continue. But we're able to. He gets to live a fairly normal life, which for the extent of his injuries, they thought that it would be we would be caretaking 100 percent of our time, never able to leave his side as he was early on in the hospital. So.

Hilary And how are the I mean, I can only imagine I'm thinking to myself, I have a cute friend who isn't feeling well today, and there's nothing worse than mom being out and still having these little ones to take care of. So not only do you have your boys and your husband and your good friend who are recovering as well as yourself, but you still have three more little ones at the home. How did you guys manage that?

Seantae: It has been trial and error, for sure. It has been we. Interestingly enough, we had gone through some other hard things right before the accident at the beginning of 2021 have been a hard year for us already . About two weeks before the accident, we had sat the family down and said, We are so proud of you guys. You have shown grit and resiliency. We can do things together as a family. Things are going to get better, but I will never regret having that conversation with them because we pointed out the fact that they can work through hard things so that not even harder things came. They knew they could do it. It doesn't change the fact that it's really hard to look into your child's eyes and say, you have to hold on longer. You have to grow up, even though I don't want you to . It's just what the scenario makes happen. We can't change that. But yes, managing all of that has been tricky. But it has come because of a team and a tribe of family and friends. It's the only way we've been able to do it, especially with them. They lived at other people's houses for a month while we were in the hospital all day. They didn't see us for a long, long time and other people had to step in and kind of be there. They still call them their second moms. You know, those types of things because they had to have other people love them and care for them while we were not able to. We did the best we could. But sometimes you can't lie.

Jen: You just thinking it's not only your car accident and then hard things, but then you put a pandemic on top of it to where you are. Your kids can't come to the hospital to see you because probably at that time it was still no visitors. And so, I just keep thinking to myself that your family is. Like rock solid because of all of these hard things, and what power does that give your kids to know that they can make it through some hard things, even a pandemic to heart and a hard thing and then a car accident? Hard thing? I mean, those are going to be some strong special kids.

Seantae: Absolutely.

Jen: With strong, special parents .

Seantae: Thank you. It's funny, Cameron , he says . People will say to me, Wow, you have such a strong family because of this. And he always says, we already were a strong family. We already put in the work before this. So now going through this, instead of it breaking us, it's just created a scenario where we get to continue to use those things that we already have in place to bind us back together. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to do things like talking about it. Yet it's still really hard. But because we had put in the work beforehand, we already had strengthened our family. We allowed, you know, room for independence and growth and things like that. But we also really try to focus on time together because, yeah, what if a pandemic hits and you're stuck together, you have to know how to get along, and that's going to be able. I hope to propel them into their life, to be able to deal with those hard things that come.

Jen: Just thinking in my head. Like, you know, when your family grows like I'm just thinking of my husband's family. As you get older and older, you kind of go your separate ways and like now your family, your saying he's going to be there no matter what for each other. So, I think that's super cool.

Hilary: Thank you. So, I mean, I know we have some individuals that are listening and as you say, as you say that, you know, we've built up the strength within our family and we're already working towards that before this even hit. I know there's probably some listeners that are like, OK, what do I do to get that? Will I be ready when that tough time comes? So, you mentioned a few things you mentioned, you know, building the independence and time together. What other suggestions would you offer to our listeners of things that we can do within our own home that would kind of help strengthen and prepare our family unit?

Seantae: I think the biggest thing is that I try to work on is to find those pockets of time. All too often, we say that we're too busy and in all honesty, we are too busy. If that's what we let dictate our lives and a lot of times that pocket of time at my house is that bed. It's usually like I am so tired we need to be done. And I have our age range of kids from nine to 15, and the nine-year old’s still want to be tucked in when they want that time to tell me about how they did on their spelling test that day or who they played with at recess, up to our teenagers who need the time to just talk, and sometimes it's till midnight. And if we don't take those opportunities to have the pockets of time when our kids are ready, we will miss them. They won't come to us the next time because we've missed out on that pocket. The other thing I would say is do things that you enjoy together. Our family, about half of our kids and all of us are very athletic. Some of them don't love that. And so, we have to find ways to incorporate something that everybody does have a place and that they can enjoy. And so sometimes it's that we're in the front yard. Half the kids are playing a sport and the other half are, you know, riding a bike or a skateboard or using sidewalk chalk. And we may not be actually interacting with each other, but we're all there together. The last thing I would say is family meals. Sitting down together as a family. No screens, period. It can be silent. I'm usually at my house, it is crazy, and the kids end up raising their hands because they want a turn. Whoever screams the loudest gets to say the next thing. But again, just finding those pockets of time. And sometimes that's why you're driving to things. But again taking those opportunities to use that time as well as with your spouse, your spouse, you have to develop that relationship because you don't have a lot of time to do that.

Hilary: I love that. I think I think we have started in our society to build a mindset that that like busyness is almost a status symbol. Now that we're busier, people are more important people. And that's not necessarily the case. It's not necessarily about how much you have on your plate, but I think more so about how you utilize your time. Yeah. And like you said, even if it's finding those little windows, those little pockets , we've got five minutes while we're driving from the sporting event of the sporting event. That's five minutes that we can have the radio on and tune out each other, or that's five minutes where we can connect and have a conversation. Yes. And I think that that's incredibly helpful for parents to hear that it doesn't need. It doesn't necessarily mean that we have a full weekend with nothing to do, but it means that you find those little opportunities. So, you're working with. I'm just you're working with a lot of physical things. Yes. Let's talk a little bit about the emotional things because you mentioned some, if I can say PTSD, I'm sure that there was , I mean, what have you and your kids done to kind of help through that emotional side of things?

Seantae: Yes, it's tricky, especially if it's something that you haven't dealt with directly and you hear about things like PTSD. You usually associate it with, you know, veterans and things like that. And I can't even imagine what they go through, where it's multiple things that they're doing. I'm learning through this, you know, all of our emergency responders, they have to deal with this kind of trauma constantly, even though it's not their own family. And they get, you know, they have to see these things. And I'm so grateful for them because they saved our lives. But it does still affect them. I mean, there's so many different things and different types of trauma that we all deal with and usually don't know that we're going to have to deal with. And then we do. And it has been something that I think we've all had to learn our own coping styles and our own coping skills. And then we've had to strengthen that, which has meant a lot of counseling. And thank goodness for it. And thank goodness that we didn't feel so prideful that we thought we could do it on our own. Sometimes, you know, I'll be on my therapy sessions and be like, Well, I already know to do this and this and this, and he'll challenge me. Well, what about this thought? Have you thought about that or have you tried to do it this other way or you're doing the same thing, that's why you're getting the same result. Sometimes it's there's so much value in having somebody else, especially somebody that's trained to know how to teach you and guide you. From there, as a family, we just have learned each other. Sometimes if I'm having a flashback or something, sometimes I need somebody to physically touch me. I need somebody to remind me, I'm right here, I'm not back in that moment. Other times, I need everybody to go away and I need to focus on my breathes and do some mindfulness in order to get back to the present moment. And we've just had to not take things personally. We've just had to know that that person's going through something that's really hard for themselves to deal with and just sometimes helping is taking a step back, sometimes helping as being all in ourselves to help in the ways that is beneficial, as opposed to the ways that make us feel better.

Hilary: And I'm assuming that communication is kind of the key component. With that being able to explain to your kids or have your kids explain to you, I need some time to myself. I know you're trying to help by talking to me, but that's not helping right now. And so, I think that's probably what makes the most success in that process.

Seantae: Absolutely. And sometimes it's more it comes out in almost an outburst, but that's OK . You know, sometimes it will be. Leave me alone, you know? You know, sometimes Cameron will just feel so strongly about where he's at, and he can't deal with that emotion at that moment. But I understand and we've been able to talk about it later and he'll say, I just I couldn't I couldn't do anything else at that moment. And I understand. And then we talk about it and it's fine. And then the next time that happens, I know, OK, he's just got to deal with it, and then we can help each other through that. And yes, that communication helps a lot. Otherwise, you do take it, person, you think you're trying to help it, that you did something wrong and you just want your loved ones to be OK. And sometimes you have to give them the time and space to gain the skills to work on it themselves because they are working it on working on it themselves anyway.

Jen: I think that's a great skill for any family to have to have that communication and then know what their children's or their spouses way of dealing with things is so they can give them that space. I mean, I think of myself when I get frustrated, I need time away. And so, letting my husband know I need time, then he's not taking a personal. He's like, OK, Jen's going to go figure it out and she'll come back and talk with me. And so, I think it's a great skill that any family could benefit from.

Hilary: So, I know I'm thinking of myself. And as a parent, I think my biggest fear is the unknown of the future. And I'm sure that you've experienced that and your kids have experienced that a lot. Maybe having these ideas of what we were going to do and maybe having to re-evaluate these ideas. How have you been able to maneuver that? And have you been able to teach your kids about maybe expectations for the future dreams goals?

Seantae: I think the biggest thing is that we always remind each other that whatever they feel is the right feeling, and we use the grief cycle often, even though sometimes people think that that's just for the loss of somebody. It's also for the loss of expectations worth a life or physical ability, as I'm in so many different things. And so, if you're feeling angry, that's the right feeling for you right now. If you're feeling hopeful, then that's the right feeling. And that has been one of our biggest tools for managing expectations for the future is wherever we're at, we're at. And it's OK. Sometimes it's tricky when I'm feeling angry and he's feeling excited and he's feeling hopeful, but we all just honor each other and that because otherwise we get stuck. And if we think too hard about what would have been or what could have been, we get stuck and then we can't move forward at all. But if we just say, Listen, today I'm mad and I'm going to be mad about it, and then tomorrow I might cry a lot because guess what, the next day I might feel better and whatever it is, it is. And that's what we've told the kids. Whatever they're feeling, they're feeling. And when you go through something like this, just like with a loss, some days you're not thinking about it at all. And some days you can't stop thinking about it. Neither of those are right or wrong. And so we've just had to embrace that. Today is one of those days. I can't stop thinking about it. Today is one of those days that everything triggers me or today is one of those days I forgot it even happened. I'm very present in the moment and I'm enjoying this time with you and allowing all of us just to be OK with where we're at.

Hilary: Hmm. That's such good advice because I think so often we. How we interact with individuals that have gone through a loss, some type of grief and maybe it has been days and weeks and months and even years, and so we make the assumption that they're good , right? That they have been able to recover from that. And then for whatever reason, something happens that may trigger those thoughts and emotions and experiences back. And I think it's important to remember that it's not probably ever something that you close the door completely on.

Jen: I think it's also people who think you should be over that by now. Have this. It's been 10 years. Come on. Let's yeah, leave it in the past. But that's not how trauma works. Yeah, it comes back and smacks you in the face when you least expect it.

Seantae: Absolutely. And if you do, this recently happened to me and slap me in the face and I was like, Whoa, we're at this point in time, I should not be feeling this. But if you know, if you know that there's a chance of that happening, it's a lot easier to cope with it. And then going in to it, saying , Oh, by this day , it will be gone. The other thing is that we change through these things. I'm a different person than I was before. I'm still me, but I have learned a lot and changed a lot met a lot of people. Grown a lot, hurt a lot. All of those things. And if I go and say, Oh, it's going to be done, then I am taking away from who I've gained in myself through experiencing those hard things and through working through it. Even if I don't work through it well, I've still made it another day and there's strength to be had in that.

Hilary: Yeah, I think I think a lot of times and we've discussed this on this podcast that oftentimes when we think about resiliency, you hear the phrase being able to bounce back right and it almost sounds like it needs to be an instantaneous bounce, right that.

Jen: I don’t even like bounce back

Hilary: Yeah, because that makes it sound like you're going back to where you were before.

Jen: And like you said you, you're not the same person you were before. Yeah, so I feel we need to come up with a better word.

Hilary: Yes. But you're right. Resiliency doesn't necessarily mean that on this day, I'm in a bad space, but tomorrow I'm completely healed right? My spring has officially sprung, and now I'm good. So, I think that there's much more to it than that.

Seantae: I think resiliency is literally getting through the next moment that is being resilient, allowing yourself to do it and like I said it might mean sitting in the suffering, but that you're allowing yourself to get through that next moment. That's being resilient, I mean, that's what builds resiliency. Having that growth mindset that OK, this hasn't defeated me. I can continue. I will take another breath. I will make it through another minute. I will make it another day. And it might not be pretty. It might not be gracious, but I will continue. Resiliency just means that we give ourselves the grace to continue.

Jen: Yeah, you showed up.

Seantae: Right.

Jen: That I go to a horse class, and they have little the kids take words off what they came, what came up for them during that time. And one of them is I just showed up. That's sometimes we got to give our self permissions of we just showed up and that's good enough for today,

Seantae: absolutely.

Hilary: So, in this short year, you have created a foundation in addition to everything else that has happened. We want to hear about this. Tell us about your foundation.

Seantae: You know it's interesting because just a few days after the accident, I mean, we were all still in really bad shape. The three adults, my husband and I and my friend we all knew instantly that we wanted to do something with this. I don't know if it was just a form of coping or a way of having some hope and something else or what, but we all instantly knew. And my husband's the whole time has been some sort of nonprofits and sort of a charity of sorts. And when they life flighted him, they gave him a John Doe name. They weren't able to ask him what his name was, but they needed to get information in the system very quickly, so they gave him the John Doe don't name of Sandal Blue. Everybody asked me do you have blue sandals on? He had brown Chacos on.

Hilary: Wow! Interesting, yeah. So how they came up with that name, we will never know.

Seantae: Yes, I've heard it's just randomized in this system we have tried to find that out it seems like it's a random thing in the system, but that name has really a lot of significance for us. Sandal blue. So we have started a nonprofit, it's called Sandal Blue Foundation.

Hilary: Love it.

Seantae: And we are trying to provide resources and help for other people that have gone through motor vehicle accidents. We hear of wrecks constantly, right? Every day on the news. But there are little to no resources for the people that are enduring it, I mean.

Hilary: Ohh yeah.

Seanta: We have searched and searched. There are some, but there are very few. So we are trying to create a space for people to connect that have gone through something hard to provide resources and help both financial and I mean just informational and also for the support system of those people because in the thick of it, especially where with ours it was more than half of our family. Yeah, that meant all of our extended family had to be on board. And we were so grateful that they didn't even ask. They didn't blink an eye. They stepped right in. But they needed resources. They were going through it just right along with us and they still are. And so, to provide resources for the support system and their teams and then also to provide some hope that they can accomplish things. We have been training for a marathon, for our first marathon right before the accident. We have not made it yet. But the idea of running another race is what has kept my husband going. That's why he's walking is because he has been having that hope, so our organization does also provide opportunities for us to help people find a purpose again and work towards something towards anything that may be interesting to them because otherwise you go to physical therapy and it's just do this again and it hurts and you don't want to. So, when you have a why behind it, it really helps. And so we, yes, are doing all of the things hopefully in order to shed some light and some hope to others. And we've just met some amazing people through the experiences as well. So, we, I will say we have a website. I would love it if people went to see it at Sandalbluefoundation.org and we do motivational speaking as well. If anybody knows somebody that could use, you know, some outreach from us, they can contact us if they want.

Hilary: OK. Perfect.

Seantae: They are interested in us speaking. They can contact us. We would love to connect with as many people as we can. We know this doesn't just affect our family and we know that not everybody's story turns out the way that ours has, and we would love to be able to be a support and a guide for them.

Hilary: OK. And we will make sure that we include that website in our show notes so that our listeners know how to, yes, get in contact with you. Knowing your family, and maybe we'll close with this last question, knowing you and your family. What wonderful dreams and visions and plans do you guys have these next few weeks and months and years for you guys?

Seantae: Ohh. You know, for the next few weeks I've got like I said, I have a surgery, so we're just hoping to endure through another downtime. I have been able to start back at work just recently, but I will be taking a pause again. So, you know the immediate future is some more enduring and just trying to take it a day at a time. But then from there, we really just hope to reach other people. We really hope to continue to think healthcare professionals for what they do we have and things lined up at some universities, speaking to upcoming students that are gonna be changing people's lives like they changed ours. And we're hoping to do more speaking. Lots of volunteering, we hope to work with brain injury patients, because we have an understanding of that at this point and just you know. I really just hope to continue to get strength from others so that we can continue and then hopefully give some strength back as we go.

Hilary: So, what about the boys?

Seantae: Oh, they're living their best teenage life. You know, they get to do all the teenage things which we're so grateful for. It doesn't look the same as it would have, obviously. But we're making the best of it and I talk about pockets of time, but we talk about pockets of joy at our house all the time. And so, you know he's not able to do the things that he wants to do, but he does still have some pockets of joy and we really focus on that. Cameron's big goal is to get a scholarship through soccer and he is working really real. And that so we get to enjoy our time sitting on the sidelines, cheering for him and as well as the rest of the kids just to be kids and continue growing.

Hilary: Love it.

Jen: Just some great information that I think any family can take little pieces that can make their family stronger. I mean connection and the importance of connection is really I really love that you have that throughout your entire story of making sure we're connected not only as a family, but finding the supports that can help. You are super important as well. So I want to thank you for coming and being on our podcast today and sharing your story. I always feel like these stories, Hilary and I are invited into this special place that people have, and it's an honor to be there and to be part of hearing your story. So, thank you so much. We hope that you enjoyed this podcast and we hope that you are all being kind to yourself and we will see you next week.

Thank you for listening to the Parents Place Podcast. If you would like to reach us, you can at parents@thefamilyplaceutah.org or you can reach Jen on Facebook, Jen Daly – the Family Place. Please check out our show notes for any additional information. Our website is Thefamilyplaceutah.org. If you're interested in any of our upcoming virtual classes. We'd love to see you there.

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