On Tuesday morning, our 21-year-old niece Emilee — Tracie’s sister’s daughter — was in a terrible car accident on Farm-to-Market Road 1135 in Orangefield, Texas, not far from Orange and West Orange where Tracie grew up.

A dump truck full of used kitchen grease ran a stop sign and collided with Emilee’s Hyundai Elantra (in the photo above).

It’s a miracle she survived.

As soon as Tracie’s mom called to let her know what had happened, I went and got the girls out of school and we headed to the Beaumont hospital where she had been taken. At that point, no one was sure she would make it. By the time we made it over the Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge, all we knew was that she was going into surgery to stop internal bleeding.

Her mom, who works as a nurse at that same Beaumont hospital, described her injuries late last night on her Facebook:

“She had a perforated bowel which required surgical intervention, a fractured radius, clavicle, and orbital bone, along with multiple Lumbar fractures. Thankfully, no surgery will be needed for her back, but she will have to wear a brace for 12 long weeks with no driving.”

She was still in the ICU when we drove back to Houston yesterday afternoon. They should be moving her to a regular hospital room today.

Tracie has been very close to Emilee her whole life.

After Emilee enrolled at University of Houston a few years ago, she began spending a lot of nights at our house. She was already very close with both of our girls.

That’s Emilee, above, with Georgia at Easter this year.

It’s a miracle she’s alive. G-d bless Emilee and her family. We love her and them so much. We have so much to be grateful for. More than words can say…

There are moments that the words don’t reach
There is suffering too terrible to name
You hold your child as tight as you can
Then push away the unimaginable.