Sincere thanks for community help after crash

On Friday, June 23, my wife Teresa, and daughter Emily, were involved in a horrific car collision on Lakeport Road in Chittenango. To make matters worse, it was Emily’s graduation day, and they were both on their way to pick up the cake, her aunt, and grandmother for the big event.

At 11 a.m., a mini van veered into my wife’s lane and hit them head on. Luckily, I was able to get to the scene quickly. Upon surveying the crash site, it seemed unbelievable to me that anyone could have survived the impact, let alone wasalk away from it. By the Grace of God, my wife and daughter were banged up pretty good, but suffered no broken bones or internal injuries. I immediately got on my knees and thanked God that things didn’t turn out worse.

The highlight of all of this was the fact that Emily was able to be released from the hospital in time to graduate with her class.

On behalf of my family, I would like to extend my sincerest appreciation to everyone that assisted along the way... but most especially to Mrs. Compoli, who was able to take my daughter’s phone to let me know the status and location of accident; Barb Evans for keeping everyone upbeat and positive; off duty Trooper Mike Petrie for sitting in the car and comforting Emily until she could be extracted; Deputy Valerie Clarke for her professionalism, com- passion, and follow up work; Lt. Jeff Jones, the EMT who cared for her and Teresa in the ambulance; Mike Fersch, Emily’s high school principal, who called at least three times to check in on everyone’s condition and to see if she might need any medical assistance at the ceremony; and a final big thanks to all the first responders, the trauma team at Upstate Medical Center, along with all the caring people that called, prayed, sent flowers, or dropped off food.

This just exemplifies the type of people that make up the great community that we love so much and call home. Thank you again, and God Bless you all.

John Stewart, Chittenango