The Accident

The Accident

In the hot, sweaty, summer of 2006, my brother, Yaseen, was eight years old and decided to go on a bike ride with his friends. He was one of those typical young boys, who didn’t like to take showers and was always a smelly little boy. Before he went on his bike ride, I had asked him to take a shower because he smelled and he just brushed it off. So, I just told him “Okay whatever be safe.” He responded saying “Okay Mana”, and he walked out the door. Little did I know, that day changed my mind and made me realize that life really could end in an instance.

My mother received a phone call from the fire fighters that my brother had been hit by a car in the Food4Less parking lot. My mother was hysterical and frantically drove to Food4Less and saw the firefighter rip off my brothers shorts to check on his thigh. His thigh was bruised, purple, and was vastly enormous. My mother went in the emergency car with my brother and called my dad to inform him what had happened. When my dad got home he literally told me “Get your mom and brothers shit, we are going to the emergency room”. Of course, I had asked him why and he responded “Just get some fucking clothes and be downstairs in two minutes”. So I did exactly what he told me and he said we had to go to UC Medical Center. On the way there, my dad drove 120 mph and had told me the news about my brother and broke down. That was the first time I had ever seen my dad cry and it made me break down even more. Not to mention, my dad is one of those manly men who don’t show affection or express any emotions, nonetheless have a mental breakdown which was rare.

As soon as we arrived to UCD Medical Center we went to the reception of the emergency room and they told us that we had to wait because the doctors were still checking him out and only one person could see him while he was in the emergency room. We waited in the waiting room for about an hour, which felt never ending. Every minute felt like an eternity and I thought that they were never going to let me see him. During that hour, I had time to think to myself and about a million things popped in my head. “Will I ever get to see my brother?” “What would I do without him?” “He’s too young to be going through this.” “Why him? I’d rather have it be me so he wouldn’t have to go through this?” “Maaaaan, why was I so mean to my brother?”

Then, I saw my mom come out she said that they are doing x-rays on his thighs and that he was all drugged out. My mom had also told me that my brother was constantly asking where I was at, and that he wanted to see me which brought a smile to my face with a few tears alongside. When I finally got to see my brother and saw pain and sadness in his eyes. I figured I could put a smile on his face so I asked him if he had taken a shower, he giggled and said no, jokingly I said he should have listened to me and from now on he should listen to me.

            The doctor came out and told us that he had fractured his right femur and he would need surgery, the doctor said that he would go in surgery the day after and for the rest of the , day they would just provide him with pain medication until the surgery. Truthfully, I was scared for my life when I knew that he was going to get surgery. Although there are rare cases when someone doesn’t make it, I was frightened just knowing that there is a possibility. That night, my mom stayed the night at the hospital, so my dad and I left home.

The following day we were there right before his surgery. The surgeon said that he would need a plate with some screws to replace his right femur so it would grow normally. The surgery lasted about a few hours which also felt like an eternity. The surgeon came out and told us everything was successful and he is just drugged out on pain meds. He stayed at the hospital for a few weeks, so he could receive therapy for his thigh so he could get used to walking and get used to using crutches.

After this accident, I realized that my brother had gone through so much in those weeks that he needed a lot of love and attention that I had never really had given him. I realized that my brother is my rock and I would do anything for him. Anything can happen within seconds and during those moments it gave me time to recollect myself and realize how you can lose anyone or anything within an instance. To this day, I still spoil my brother and I bought him a concert ticket of one of his favorite rappers, and he doesn’t know yet. I am so appreciative of my brother and family and value our time together preciously. My brother is now fifteen, plays football in high school and is one of the most strongest people I know. No little kid should ever go through what he did and I have so much respect for him and what he has been through.