‘Don’t give up:’ An officer’s path to recovery

GETTYSBURG, PA. » It was March 11, 2010. A typical day where April Phillips worked from her home in Gettysburg as a transcriptionist for Hanover Hospital. Her husband, Rick Phillips, a police officer for Eastern Adams Regional Police Department, kissed his wife and two step-daughters goodbye, like he always did, and headed out to work his 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift.

During his dinner break, Rick called April to let her know he would be working his normal traffic enforcement for the rest of the night.

April told him to be careful and that she loved him, just like any other day.

“You just don’t know about the future,” April said.

Later that night, a knock on the door woke April up at 12:45 a.m. Two police officers told her Rick had been in a serious accident.

Rick, who had been a police officer for about 15 years, had been involved in a high-speed pursuit. The chase ended when he crashed into a tractortrailer.

Rick broke facial bones and his leg and sustained a traumatic brain injury. After the crash, he wouldn’t live full-time in his home again for five years, and his career as a police officer — one that he loved — would be over.

“I miss my job there a lot,” he said. “I loved that job.”

“Since he left, I don’t think we ever really recovered,” Eastern Adams Regional Police officer Shawn Cuffley said.

That night on March 11, 2010, Rick attempted to make a traffic stop but was soon in pursuit of the car he tried to pull over. While traveling on Route 30, the car ran a red light at the Route 94 intersection in Cross Keys. Rick continued through the red light, and his police cruiser crashed into a tractor-trailer. The car he was pursuing kept going.

April was in shock when she heard the news and immediately went to York Hospital with her twin 11-yearold daughters.

“Just imagine being woken up from a sleep at that time of night home alone,” April said.

When April arrived at the hospital, Rick was getting a CAT scan. She was sent to the trauma waiting room. Doctors told her what they knew about his brain injury and said Rick would soon go to the operating room to have a pressure monitor placed in his head.

When she finally saw him, he was on a stretcher being wheeled to the operating room. April stood at the doorway, and she remembers the doors flying open and seeing blood everywhere. She yelled out that she loved him even though she wasn’t sure if he could hear her.

After that, all she could do was cry and pray, she said.

“I still think it’s a sheer miracle he woke up and can function the way he can,” April said.

It took about a month for Rick to fully wake up. There were moments where he was semi-conscious and sometimes he would remember who April was, but other times he would call her Cindy, who is his sister, April said.

“Awaking from a coma is strange, not like you see in the movies,” she said. “It’s a gradual process.”

When Rick began talking again, doctors called it “word salad,” because nothing he said made sense.

It took about six months for him to be able to remember what he had just done an hour before, April said.

Even now, Rick says April knows his memory better than he does.

It took five years from the day of the accident for Rick to return home for good. He spent a total of three years and 4 months away from home. After York Hospital, he went to rehabilitation facilities in North Carolina and Philadelphia.

Rehab mainly worked on his memory issues, but he also had speech, physical and occupational therapy. Rick was also working with specialists when he was at ReMed in Paoli to help him come to terms with the changes in his life, April said.

During those five years, he missed out on a lot of holidays and family events, April said. Whenever Rick was in the Paoli area for treatment or therapy she would go see him every day, and when he wasn’t in the area she would call every day.

April made a total of 20 trips to see Rick in North Carolina and drove a total of 28,782 miles when he was in Pennsylvania facilities.

“She was a very busy person,” Rick said.

One Christmas, April and her twin daughters, Amber and Brianna Milliken, flew to North Carolina to spend the holiday with Rick.

“I missed my family and friends, but we are all here now though, thank goodness,” Rick said.

The crash dramatically altered April’s life, too. Her husband was no longer home, she had two preteens to raise and the dynamic of the home had changed.

“It’s been a complete role reversal in the household,” April said.

One of the rehab facilities suggested April seek legal guardianship so she could force Rick to stay at the facility. Otherwise, he could have left on his own, which was not safe at that point.

“It was hard, but I had to think with my mind and not my heart,” April said.

Rick is still her full-time responsibility, she said. He requires 24/7 supervision.

He can’t drive, and probably will never drive, April said. She has to remind him to take his medication or take a shower. If something happened to her, Rick would have to go back and live in a rehab facility since he will never be independent. She worries about the future.

“But it’s all part wedding vows to April said.

Even now that Rick is home, he is still recovering. A therapist comes to his home during the week to take him to volunteer for a few hours.

He has become involved with his community again — after they rallied around the family in their time of need — just in a different way. He volunteers at Shining Stars and at the Brethren Home and April and Rick are looking for more ways to give back, April said.

Shining Stars in Gettysburg provides therapy through horsemanship. Rick and April volunteer together Thursday nights as side-walkers, walking alongside the horse as someone rides, and Rick volunteers during the week to help care for the horses.

“I feed them, water them, brush them, clean their buckets and their stalls,” Rick said.

Rick enjoys the sidewalking because he said it’s fun to be around all the kids. of my Rick,”