Pray for Andy Wirt's Son, Seth

Here, shared with his permission, is a post by Andy Wirt, Grace Brethren church-planting pastor from New Albany, Ohio, about an accident that occurred with his son, Seth (pictured), who is seven.

Dear family, friends, and ClearView family,

Many of you have heard a bit about the ordeal our family has been enduring the last 24 hours. Thanks for praying for us. Thanks to the many who have sent e-mails or posted kind words and promises for prayer on Facebook. We deeply appreciate it.

Yesterday, about 4 p.m, Seth got home from a camp he attended. I had been working in our basement to prepare it for laying carpet remnants. Foolishly, I set a couch on end and positioned it in such a way that I knew it would not fall on its own. As a father of two active boys... I should have anticipated what happened.

Within minutes, I heard screaming and saw Seth running up the stairs. I won't describe his condition--suffice it to say that it is a memory locked in Trish's and my minds that we can't dislodge. Seth had climbed up the back of the couch and it had fallen on him--his face/head taking most of the weight of the couch.

I knew this was 'way beyond our capabilities to take care of... so I yelled for Trish and asked her to call 911. It was the longest 10 minutes of my life. A combination of fear, regret, and grief settled in my heart. By God's grace, the EMT's took control of the situation and got us safely to Children's Hospital. It is a blessing to live in a city with a great children's hospital.

Last evening was a long one. We waited for several hours before a tentative plan of action emerged. Finally, Seth was taken for a CT scan that ended up revealing fractures to nasal bones that are pressing on his brain.

We were told of possibility of blood in the brain (not sure if all of this is medically sound, but this is what I remember). Another CT scan was ordered. It did show oxygen in the brain, but no bleeding. Apparently oxygen in the brain dissipates with 100% pure oxygen (by breathing mask) for a few hours. Seth did that.

After this, they sutured a deep cut above his eye and closed a deep wound on his nose. The challenges now are: CT scans have shown fractures in the nasal bones. Some need to be surgically repaired and some will be allowed to heal naturally. In addition, we're not sure if Seth's sense of smell can be restored. Also, the bony structure that supports/surrounds his tear ducts (running from eye through the sinuses) are fractured... so we're not sure about their functionality.

Bottom line is that it seems Seth may NOT have surgery this week. Instead, the last we've heard from a trauma/plastic surgeon (who will try to repair the interior of Seth's nose) is that they want to wait until the swelling (which is significant right now) goes down and then they will evaluate from there.

We are definitely looking at a surgery to restructure nasal cavities at some point. We're hoping that at that point, an opthomologic plastic surgeon can also be involved to figure out how to repair damage to tear ducts. etc.

There is a lot of good news--this could be much worse. Seth easily could have been killed or suffered much more severe injuries. All in all, we have much to be thankful for. Seth can see. He is in good spirits (except for the constant irritation of IV's, etc. and he is definitely in pain).

We are thankful for no indication of brain damage. God has been so good to us in the support of our biological families, our spiritual family, and friends in the New Albany area. We have been deeply touched by your kindness.

Please continue to pray for Seth. He has been such a brave young man. I'm not sure he understands the extent of injury to his face and nose (he has looked in the mirror--but I'm not sure how much has registered).

Please pray we get the best care possible. Please pray doctors would have wisdom about what to do and when (it has been difficult at this point to discern who is calling the shots and what attending physicians have been involved- we've seen a lot of residents). Please pray for full healing for Seth, internally and externally.

Please pray that God would give him special grace to handle whatever may come by whatever permanent scarring will ensue. In the short run, please pray that Seth can keep liquids down so he can move to real food to get off the IV to be able to go home. Pray also he'd be soon able to handle pain with non-IV pain meds.

Please also pray for Trish as this last day has been a significant strain on us. Obviously, we are concerned about her and baby #4- please pray she can get some needed rest, and peace of mind. I would ask for your prayers to know how to forgive myself for this oversight and know how to best love and lead my family through this trial.

This one of those situations where I think through all that I'm usually telling others in these types of circumstances. We know God is good. We know God is completely in control. We believe God was there with Seth during this accident and has been with him each step of the recovery process.

Yet, as any parent knows, when it is your own child lying in a hospital room, it is really tough to put your faith into action. I've found myself praying, wrestling with God, knowing that Seth is God's first--and that is the best place for Him to be. I know that Seth has Jesus in his heart and we'll rest in that.

UPDATE (to the update): I just talked with Seth's doctors. He will have surgery next Tuesday at 8a.m. In God's perfect plan, we had planned to be on vacation all next week. So, with that canceled, our schedules are clear to focus on Seth and his recovery. In this surgery, an OSU plastic surgeon will reform his nose, try to adjust the sutures on the laceration on his nose and a eye doctor surgeon will work with his tear ducts. Please pray about this.

Thanks so much for standing with us at this time. Please forgive me for not being able to keep up with voice-mail messages, e-mail and Facebook. But--keep your notes coming--I'll share them with Trish (twirt@sbcglobal.net) and they are a blessing.

With thanks,

Andy (for Trish, Seth, Silas, and Sara)