posted 04-17-2001 10:38 AM            

Phadat has been in touch with me, and informed me that Spie had another severe brain hemorage last night. The doctors have been unable to detect any brain activity, and because Spie has very specific DNR instructions in place, her mother is taking her off the ventilator today. If she is able to breathe on her own, they will go from there. If not...

I know everyone has Spie's best interest at heart, and I know everyone wants to be able to help. Right now, however, flowers and cards are not appropriate for several reasons. First, she is a very private person, and having such a fuss made over her would not only embarrass her, but make her angry. Second, flowers and balloons and the like, are not accepted in the ICU. I am not giving you my opinion on this, these are the direct wishes of her family.

I do know how everyone can help, and it is an idea I have cleared with them. Spie has a four year old daughter, Hailey, and baby boy, named Jacob. As moms with kids the same ages, we often went off on long tangents about our kids, and I know she would be more concerned about her children, than herself. As such, I will be taking donations to put care packages together for her kids - toys, videos, loveys, anything that can distract them, and comfort them.

If by some miracle Spie does begin to recover, there may be a time later on, when cards and well-wishes will be appreciated. In that case, I will let everyone know.

Until then, please contact me at nat@xmission.com. if you are interested in helping me put something together for her children.

And take a moment to say a little prayer.

Natalie

posted 04-17-2001 10:48 AM            

I hope you are doing okay too.

posted 04-17-2001 10:49 AM            

Spie was rounding a curve when she was hit head on. She was on a two lane highway, and apparently the guy was so drunk he was completely in her lane. Her car didn't flip, it just collided with his (he was traveling at 70 MPH) and then went off the road. Her airbag didn't open so she hit the windshield head on, despite her seatbelt. She wasn't conscious upon impact, and probably didn't even know what hit her.

The drunk man wasn't hurt. He had a couple of scrapes and bruises but he got out of the car, and left the scene. Spie was in the car for about 20 minutes before someone stopped and called an ambulance.

At this point she had been unconscious for some time. It took the ambulance another 30 minutes to reach her, and she was not breathing. They had to cut her from the car, and then they had to revive her. They did.

On the way to the hospital, they had to revive her again. The police caught the
guy -- a Mexican man who is an illegal alien
with, of course, no car insurance. He has been charged with Public Drunkenness several times, as well as Driving Under The Influence. He is not supposed to be driving
a car because a) he is illegal, b) he has been sent back to Mexico several times, and c)he has no license. They caught him about 3-4 miles away trying to hitchhike.

That is all the info I have for now. When I know more about her condition, or the accident, I'll post what her family feels is appropriate.

posted 04-17-2001 10:57 AM            

I'm still praying for spie, and her family.

Thank you Natalie, this has got to be hard.

Please offer our best to the family.

posted 04-17-2001 11:06 AM            

May God bless Spie and her family.

posted 04-17-2001 11:10 AM            

Spie was a finalist in Project Greenlight, right? I think her talent can still provide something for her children.

If I can get a copy of her screenplay, I will give it the most loving and most meticulous "uhuru-style" going-over that is possible to give.

From there, with her family's permission only, I would ask for a special "Spie Writer's Group" to form online with me to make of spie's script a real sale-able hot item.

And from there, once we have crafted for Spie's kids something that may provide a bit for their security and spie when she recovers (I WILL think positive), I am sure that with all the networking we can do amongst ourselves, that we can at least get Spie and her kids some option money.

Spie will need the extra boost for her recovery. And if it is God's wisdom to have her recover directly in His arms, then we will have allowed Spie herself to have left one last valuable gift for those children.

What do you all think of this idea?

I will give my whole heart and soul to this if I have your support.

posted 04-17-2001 11:22 AM            

I have a copy if you'd like me to email it to you. Frankly, I reviewed it in depth and online, and there's really nothing to improve - I think. Maybe the slightest changes to the format, but the script is still one of the two best I've read in the past year. And I dunno, but I'd feel kind of, well, presumptuous, to change her script without her approval. I'd talk to Phadat1 about that.

And as for helping her kids, Andromeda, sign me up. I'll email you right away.

God, please, I implore, I beg, I pray, if miracles do come from Your hands, drop one Spie's way, please? Please?

Davout
davout@michaeldelving.com

posted 04-17-2001 11:32 AM            

I'm sure Phadat, her writing partner for Guadalajara, will do what he can to get it sold, and Davout is right, there isn't much in need of fixing.

For now, I think we just need to wait and see what happens, and go from there.

posted 04-17-2001 11:41 AM            

I am so sad to hear this - as the mother of two young ones I CANNOT stomach the thought of us all not being together.

I am emailing you Andromeda about a box of stuff, and I would also like to make a plea to all out there - some may think it ugly, but it is a necessity.

I think we should start a fund for Spie's children and mother. Raising children is expensive. I would be happy to chip in some money, not that I have much, but imagine if all of us that could, gave whatever we could. I think we could help tremendously.

What do you all think?

Fellow Virginian (now living in West Virginia),

posted 04-17-2001 11:42 AM            

Please let me know if there is anything I can do, you can reach me at houseofinsomnia@earthlink.net

I would like to say when I paid medical claims for a living, I did know two people who did not have brain activity who later recovered, so there is hope in this very sad time.

posted 04-17-2001 11:52 AM            

thanks for the update,
ughhh the story is soooo sad. just reading it again really made me upset.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Andromeda:
The drunk man wasn't hurt.

[This message has been edited by Andromeda (edited 04-17-2001).]

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posted 04-17-2001 11:54 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by uhuru1701:
[B]I only meant that there must be some way that her talent can still provide for those children.

---

An excellent thought, and I for one would like to see that happen. Your motives are pure, and I'm sure she will thank you.

posted 04-17-2001 11:57 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by quetee:
it F'ing figures........... what an ass.. i cant believe this crap. why does the drunk ass always escape unharm.

thanks for the update,
ughhh the story is soooo sad. just reading it again really made me upset.

---

posted 04-17-2001 12:04 PM            

I believe in forgiveness. But i also believe that people who want to repent need to walk the path too. They just cant expect someone to stand in the middle of the street with one hand out.............

If this had been my mother, I would not hate the man. Because i dont believe in hate. I do however believe that if this man does not get help after this, my charity of forgiveness is just a phantom........

quote:

---

Originally posted by mina blue:
They do to live with the guilt. It is sad that a lesson must be learned under such terrible circumstances.

---

posted 04-17-2001 12:14 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by quetee:
live with the guilt???? yeah if they reform, but if their ass gets back out their again and drink and drive....after something like this, that means they are selfish and only care about their own pain. not that of others.

I believe in forgiveness. But i also believe that people who want to repent need to walk the path too. They just cant expect someone to stand in the middle of the street with one hand out.............

If this had been my mother, I would not hate the man. Because i dont believe in hate. I do however believe that if this man does not get help after this, my charity of forgiveness is just a phantom........

---

I don't want to get off the subject at hand but I just need to make one comment to this. I have lost my mother to a drunk driver when I was nine. I also have a good friend who was behind the wheel drunk. He drove off the road and killed another one of my friends who was in the car. He escaped physically unharmed. That guilt he carries with him is crippling. He has learned a lesson maybe not consciously but that guilt eats at his very soul every day of his life. He has gotten his punishment both legally and karmically.
I have no hatred towards the man who took my mother's life. Whether or not he has reformed himself is not my concern, I have to live each day with a pure heart. Anger will only destroy you.

posted 04-17-2001 12:18 PM            

What's a travesty, in my mind, is that when someone is killed due to a drunk driver, that driver is normally charged (in most jurisdiction, I believe) with vehicular manslaughter and NOT murder, which is what it actually is the minute they put that car into gear and pull onto a road, while drunk.

These untreated alcoholics who insist on driving while drunk, are a terrible danger to us all. Anytime they harm someone while driving, or even when they are simply caught (and the FIRST time) driving drunk, I'd like to see them incarcerated and kept there until such time that qualified personnel can attest to them being in treatment, and no longer a LIKELY threat to the rest of us. The possible consequences of their actions are just too potentially lethal to the rest of us to mollycoddle them.

Taking their licenses or car registrations away is pointless because far too many still get behind the wheel of a car, anyway. They need to be someplace where they CAN'T drive until they're clean and sober.

posted 04-17-2001 12:29 PM            

I would like to send something Andromeda.
My email is: nailnads@hotmail.com

Praying for her now:-)

Do you know if she has a 'living will'?

posted 04-17-2001 01:32 PM            

I mean this all feels so terribly wrong, like it can't be happening. And what makes it all worse is that most of us can't really do anything for spie beside pray and hope. It makes me feel so helpless just reading and writing.

This might sound selfish, but having only met spie through the boards and e-mails, it feels like I'm reading a tragedy, not living it -- and that makes me feel worse.

I know spie because I read and reviewed her script last November on the Positive Feedback thread. As a result of that, we kept up a correspondence that has been more about the art of fiction writing than anything else.

So this is what it is like to feel concern over someone I only know through written words -- I don't even know what she looks or sounds like. And because we always discussed writing, it's almost like somebody has written something horrible about her yet to which she can still respond by writing something better about herself.

So I keep hoping that spie will pop up here and write her defense: "Yes, I'm here and alive and have a lot more life left in me."

Okay spie, I'm counting on you bouncing back and writing another chapter. Please don't make us write it for you.

posted 04-17-2001 01:57 PM            

I'm not a religious person. I don't even know if I believe in a God or anything like that, but for the first time in many years, I prayed for spie. I'm praying, because maybe, just maybe, there's the remote possibility that it could help her, and that's all that's important. I really hope she can pull through this tragedy and be able to see all the love that people have for her. For the sake of herself, her family and friends, and especially her two young children, I'm praying that she makes it through this.

These horrible "accidents" just should not happen.

Spie, I hope you have many years ahead of you to write and live and love. Take care.

posted 04-17-2001 02:06 PM            

I just sent you an email. I want to do whatever I can to help.