The year 2023 did not start off as joyful and welcoming for me as one expects to say
goodbye to the past year and greet the new year. Almost a couple months ago, my family and I
experienced one of toughest times together. The day after Christmas, December 26, 2022, my
parents, my brother, and I left at the crack of dawn to Glamis. In case you don’t already know,
Glamis is the Imperial Sand Dunes, where people go to camp and go off-roading in ATVs and
sand cars. After a lot of indecisiveness about going this last year, my family decided we would
go to Glamis with some of our family and friends. My family owns a Can-Am and a quad that we
have taken out riding many times. Earlier in the year, my brother sold his quad and began
working on my dad’s old banshee. The difference between the two quads was that my dad’s
banshee was quite bigger, faster, and stronger. The first day in Glamis, I was in the can-am
riding behind my brother on his quad to Sunset Hill, a high dune that is challenging to make it up
to, and Nick was riding his quad amazing. The whole trip, I kept telling my mom how proud I was
of how good he was riding…until the accident happened.
On the third day of our trip, my brother, Nick, was in a crash on his banshee. It was a
nice, chilly day and around noon, the people at our camp decided we would take a ride to
Vendor’s Row. My mom, my brother, my cousin Kalee, and I got in our Can-Am. During the ride,
our belt had broken and we were stuck in the middle of the dunes. The friends we were riding
with tried to fix it, but they did not have all the right tools and needed to go back to camp. A
couple of men, Chris and Jason, needed to go back to camp for the tools and told us that some
people must go back to camp and stay there so we would have less weight in our Can-Am. I, of
course, was going to stay out there with my mom since it was our car they were fixing, and then
no one else wanted to go back. Nick, trying to be helpful, says, “I will go back with them in their
Can-Am, then follow them back on my quad.” In one car, it was Jason and Chris, and in the
other car, it was my older cousin Derrick, his friend, and Nick. As they took off, a bunch of us
were hanging out in the dunes just waiting for them to come back.
After waiting for about 30 minutes, the guys roll up in their Can-Ams, but my brother is
not with them. Immediately, my mom was asking, “Where is Nicholas? He said he was following
you guys back on his quad?”
Jason responded with, “I don’t know. He was taking too long to get ready, so we just left.”
Then, shrugged his shoulders.
My mom was already curious as to why he wouldn't come because Nick always wants to
help, and he definitely would not leave us out there as they are working on OUR car. Eventually,
the car was fixed, and we headed back to camp. I rode in someone else’s sandrail and my mom
took a separate Can-Am. As we pull up to camp, I can see my mom get out before me and my
other older cousin, Vince, talking to her with a worried look on his face. All I hear is my brother’s
name mentioned, so I start getting out the rail and then I hear, “Nick was in an accident..”, from
a voice I did not even think to recognize. At first, I thought he might have just been a little hurt,
but right away I looked at my phone and saw 5 missed calls from my Dad and then I heard “He
is in the ER.”
I looked up at my mom, who was on the phone immediately, and just knew. I just felt my
heart stop and I knew something was so wrong. We did not have service out in the dunes, so no
one could get a hold of us. I was just in complete shock and was so scared. Vince told us, “I
don’t have much details, but Nick crashed on his quad, alone, and someone found him, brought
him back, and Jay (my Dad) took him to the ER.” My dad had just recently had reconstructive
shoulder surgery and he was not even supposed to be driving. What was supposed to be an
hour and half drive to the ER from Glamis to Brawley, was a 30 minutes drive for my Dad. There
was no choice for my Dad when your child’s life is in danger. So, right away, Vince offered to
drive us to the ER. My mom, my cousin Kalee, and I got in his truck and we took off to the ER.
Our cousin Aubree, who is close in age with Nick, went with my brother to the ER and I will
never forget that Vince told us that Aubree said, “I am going with Nick Dad!! I don’t care” and
Vince knew to let her go with her best friend.
Sitting in the truck on the drive, I was literally shaking and everything in my body felt
overwhelmed, yet so empty at the same time. My mom was trying to figure out details of his
condition from my Dad, but on the phone he was very unstable and having trouble talking to my
mom. I saw my mom trying to stay composed as much as she could and I was so scared. Vince
began to tell us that Nick was trying to catch up to the guys who were still close in distance, to
help fix the Can-Am, but they took off without him. Just about less than a mile from our camp,
Nick went off the first dune and people across from that dune were able to see him. Those were
all the details we could understand from what happened at the time.
We pulled up to the ER in Brawley, and they would only let my mom in to see Nick. After
about 15 minutes, my Dad was able to switch with me so I could see my brother, since there
were only two visitors at a time allowed. My heart immediately sank when I saw my brother. His
face was full of blood all over, with sand stuck to his whole body, teeth missing, cuts and bruises
all over, and completely out of it. He was hooked up to a bunch of machines, with wires attached
in so many places. Nick’s mouth was completely busted and broken. I grabbed his hand, and
after only a few seconds of peace, he sat up so quickly and began vomiting blood everywhere
on the floor. I had never seen anything like that, except in movies, he was literally projectile
vomiting a thick, pure stream of red blood. Then a second after, he did it again. My mom started
calling for the nurse and about 5 people came running in. I was completely freaked out and it
was so overwhelming with everyone running in, so I ran out of the room. I could barely walk ten
steps out because I started crying so bad. There were some people around waiting and they all
just looked at me as I stood there crying and trying to breathe. I will never forget the feeling of
being so helpless and scared. Once I was able to walk and catch my breath, I found the nearest
exit and it turned out to take me to the front of the ER. I saw my Dad sitting on the bench, I went
to him, and just started bawling in my dad’s arms. He was holding me crying, then I told him
what I just witnessed. The way my dad was hugging me, made me feel so safe.
After a while, we decided that I would go back to camp with my cousins, and pack up our
trailer. With the most luckiest coincidence, my grandparents and my tios happened to be in
Palm Springs at the casino, which was only two hours away from us. They drove from there to
Brawley to pick up the trailer and switch cars. By this time, it was late evening, when they
arrived. They picked up my dad’s truck at the ER and drove over with my Dad to hook up the
trailer. The past couple hours before that, I had been packing up everything, being helpful as
much as I could, since I could not be with my brother. After we hooked up the trailer, we went
back to the ER and my uncle left us their car and they went home with our truck and trailer. We
were still completely lost on what was going to happen with Nick.
Nick was able to tell my parents the story of what happened. Nick says that he was
getting on his quad, then the guys took off and since they only went a little up ahead, he thought
he could catch them. He was going pretty fast and when he came up to the first dune, he looked
over for a second, but was already going down. He flew on his quad 45 feet in the air and
crashed…When he gained consciousness, he saw the bike was on top of him, crushing his
legs. Thankfully, he was wearing riding boots that go up high and was able to slip out of them.
Reminder, he is all alone. With all the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he ran to the top of
the dune and began waving for a second, then just collapsed at the top. Strangers from the
camp in front of the dune saw him and immediately hopped in their rail to help him. Nick told
them where our camp was and they drove him over. He stepped out of the car, and again just
collapsed. From the time he crashed, blood just kept running out his mouth. I still cannot believe
that he was so strong enough to get up and fight for his life on adrenaline. I asked him how he
was able to run up that hill and he said, “I had no other choice. For a second, I didn’t know if I
could fight, but I did anyway.”
The doctors let us know that he had broken his jaw on both sides, missing teeth, may
have serious brain damage, and may have internal problems. The ER were completely lost on
what they were going to do, since they did not specialize in anything pediatrics trauma. The four
of us spent the entire night, taking turns in the room with Nick and sleeping in the car. Although,
none of us actually got sleep. After being told countless times through the night that he was
going to be transported, first it was Loma Linda, then San Diego, then Phoenix, he was finally
sent to San Diego by 8 a.m. From the moment I found out about the crash to the day we got into
San Diego, my life was completely stopped and focused on whether my brother was going to be
okay. It was some of the longest days of my life.
The same night we got to San Diego Rady’s Children Hospital, he went into surgery for
his jaw. They wired his mouth completely shut. So, for the last two months, my brother has been
on a liquid diet, drinking all of his meals through a straw. We spent half of our winter break at the
hospital in San Diego. The whole week, I was not allowed to visit my brother in his room, so I
saw him after a couple days when he felt strong enough to get out of bed into the wheelchair
and be pushed down to see me. The night of New Year’s Eve, I saw him and he was completely
heart broken. New Year’s Eve is one of our family’s favorite nights as we all spend it together.
That night, my Aunt came to pick me up and take me home. We went to my other uncle’s house
(Yes, I know I have a billion aunts, uncles, and cousins) for their NYE party and I had a horrible
time. I missed my family, but all I kept telling myself was that I should be thankful for my brother
being alive.
Nicholas is the strongest, most brave man I know and he is only 14 years old. He may
not know how much I love him, but as I get ready to leave for college in New York, I cherish
having him by my side always and I thank God for him being here, alive, well, and happy here
with us. My family went through one of the toughest times together and I learned just how much
we need each other.
