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Neighbors and emergency responders from Kern County Fire Department and Hall Ambulance helped Cole Walling after his brakes went out, rolling his truck on steep Santa Clara Trail.
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Neighbors and emergency responders from Kern County Fire Department and Hall Ambulance helped Cole Walling after his brakes went out, rolling his truck on steep Santa Clara Trail. He'll have a long recovery, but his friends have been wonderful, his mother says.
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Neighbors and emergency responders from Kern County Fire Department and Hall Ambulance helped Cole Walling after his brakes went out, rolling his truck on steep Santa Clara Trail.
By Georgia Tuomy
Last week my son Cole Walling, 23 was involved in a car accident that shook my world and that of his many friends.
The brakes of the old panel truck he was driving gave out while going down the very steep hill of Santa Clara Trail (about 500 yards from Frazier Park School).
He rolled downhill, overturning several times and was stopped by a tree stump which I believe, along with the sturdiness of the truck, saved my son’s life.
Cole crawled back up to the road where neighbors promptly called 911. The response of the sheriff’s deputies, fire department and ambulance was swift.
Cole sustained two fractures of his left tibia, one of which was compound (meaning the bone came through the skin). He was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital where he had surgery with a titanium rod placed in that leg. He can’t place weight on it for eight weeks. He was released from the hospital after three days.
This story, while heartwrenching and so scary at first, has brought a new appreciation for loved ones to my life. His friends in the community gathered together to cover his shifts at work. They made sure they all had rides to the hospital so he never had to be alone.
They also worked together to help prepare Cole’s house so he could use his walker and be comfortable for what will be a long recovery.
I recently moved back here to Frazier Park. This is why: its sheer beauty and the way the community bands together for each other in times of need.
I am so glad to be ‘home’ again and send heartfelt ‘thank-yous’ to all the people (both friends and strangers) who were involved in my son’s rescue and recovery! You can sign me, “Georgia, a grateful, Frazier Park Mom.”
This is part of the December 24, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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