Prayer Requests

My sister and her husband are on mission in Paraguay. Please say a prayer for them. Also I have come down with viral spinal meningitis and my spirits are very low right now.

Prayer for Kelsie
Please read further:


Kelsie Dewhurst From: Mike's Weblog

A girl from church on choir tour was apparently hurt pretty badly yesterday Here’s the caringbridge site.

Please pass along to any other HSBC’ers, and say a prayer or two.

Here’s the text from the story:

On June 4, 2007 Kelsie was serious injured when a strong gust of wind toppled a steel column near an outdoor stage where her church youth choir was performing performing in the panhandle of Florida.

After a year of preparation with hours upon hours of rehearsals, much prayer and great commitment the Chi Alpha Choir (www.chialphatour.org) of Hunter Street Baptist Church departed on their 2007 ‘Inside Out’ tours and mission outreach.

Kelsie has been a part of the vital ministry during all four years of high school with 2007 to be her ‘farewell performance’. With a heart of the hurting, particularly small children, Kelsie enjoyed the opportunity to reach out to people in communities surrounding Birmingham, Alabama, south Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisana and the Panhandle of Florida.

While in concert on the final day of their tour the unexpected happened. With the concert underway on the ground of First Baptist Church, Milton, Florida an unexpected strong gust of wind toppled a 20 foot steel column which is part of the set. Kelsie was positioned near the end of a risers and was the only student of nearly 150 youth struck by the toppling column.

Within seconds, following a severe blow to the top of her head, Kelsie was being cared for by the tour physcian and other medical professionals with Chi Alpha or attending the concert. With minutes local first responders were at the scene as well.

Once stabilized with a neck brace, back board and other immediate care was provided Kelsie was being transported by ambulance to a local hospital. The tour physician notified Kelsie’s dad, Bob. And within an hour of the accident a friend and fellow church member volunteered to fly Bob and/or Kelsie’s mother, Sonja to Florida via a business aircraft. With Sonja out of town visiting family and airport accessible limited late at night Bob flew to Pensasola while Sonja returned to their home in Hoover, Alabama to make other preparations. Within about three hours of the accident Bob was with Kelsie at West Florida Hospital in Pensacola.

The most noticeable injury was a deep laceration near the top of her head which cause considerable bleeding. It was also apparent that she was suffering from a concussion because even though she was conscious most of the time there was evidence of short term memory loss. Because of the severity of the blow a major concern was the possibility of a fractured skull and/or bleed inside the skull. A series of and scans was done and there were no signs of internal bleeding or a skull fracture. However, another serious injury was discovered. Kelsie received a broken back.

The Emergency Room Physician discovered a compression fracture of a vertebra. Not only was the vertebra broken there was damage to damage to neighboring bone structure and bone fragment near her spinal cord. A Neurosurgeon was consulted and his examination concluded that surgery would be necessary.

By early morning the following day arrangements were being made to transport Kelsie to University of Alabama - Birmingham Medical Center. By midday Kelsie and Bob were taken by an air ambulance team to Birmingham with Kelsie arriving at UAB at 2:45 pm.

A team of Neurologist and supporting nurses and technician immediately began an assessment of Kelsie’s injuries. The team headed a leading and highly regarded Neurosurgeon confirmed the seriousness of the injury and that surgery would be needed. The surgery would require stabilizing Kelsie’s spine with pin, rods and screws and was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, June 5th.