It was one of the weekends we decided to go up to the farm Carolyn, Gerard, Zach and the other kids along with me. We had decided we needed to dig a sewer septic system in order for us to be able to take showers and go to the bathroom inside the camper. It was a hot summer day when the kids ran off to play and the adults sat around the campfire drinking their beers and talking. So I decided to dig some more where the drainage was supposed to run down the field. About thirty minutes into my digging Zach came over to me. “Get out of the way. This is a man's job.” said Zach. I gave him a dirty look. “I’ve been working over here just fine. I’m not moving if you want to dig go somewhere else.”

All the sudden Zach lifted his arms and came down with a thud. The pickaxe he held now covered in blood. He had hit me in my right hand. I through my hands up in the air and drop the shovel. “He hit me! He hit me! I’ve just got hit.” I say. Carolyn comes rushing over. “Destany your bleeding.”I hear Carolyn scream.  I look down and the next thing I know i’m waking up in the back seat of the truck. I feel this horrible pain in my hand like whenever you touch a hot stove but worse. I look down and there is a top of a lighter that had been broken. Then I see a construction workers pencil. These two objects are on either side of my finger. Then there is a bunch of paper towels wrapped around me hand. A ton of duct tape wrapped around that. It was a three hour ride to Mercy hospital from Shelbyville. Were our farm was. By the time we had got there I had bled all the way through the paper towels around my hand.

A few minutes after we arrived I was taken to get x rays done. Then I had to sit in a waiting room for what seemed like eternity. Finally i'm called into a room with about three other doctors. “That’s a mighty good makeshift splint you have there.” says one of the Doctors. “Thanks Gerard made it to keep my hand still.” The doctor takes my hand gently and starts to remove the duct taped splint. Even though she is gently I still begin to cry hysterically. The pain is the worst i’ve ever felt. I can taste salt from my tears. I know I probably look like a baby, but I don't care. The doctor slowly starts to pour water on my hand to clean as much blood as possible out of the way. Then she takes an alcohol whip and starts to touch at the long gash where I was hit. The smell from the alcohol whip makes me sick. I hear Gerard and Carolin telling Zach to stop worrying that i’ll be ok. He hit me and I was not happy with him.

When the doctor was done examining my cut she brought me to another room. Soon later another doctor came in. “You have to wait nine hours without eating before we can begin the surgery.” he says. I begin to cry again. I have so many fears running around in my mind. Am I gonna lose my finger? What will people think of me? What if something goes wrong during surgery? Around two am i’m finally getting prepped for surgery. The nurse rolls me down this very long, very cold hallway. All the sudden we stop outside of a door. She turns to me and tells me what's gonna happen while i’m in surgery. Then i'm rolled into a room and put on a green table. There are big round lights in this room. And a lot of metal and silver. The lady puts a mask over my mouth and tells me to count to ten. “One, Two…” I say before everything goes completely black.

I begin to open my eyes. At first everything is blurry. I begin to freak out because no one seemed to be around. I see a yellow light on the ceiling. Then I see a woman's face. “Would you like a bite of ice?” she asks. I take a bite from the spoon she puts in my mouth. My whole body feels weighed down. I’m cold. I look down at my hand and there's a blue cast on it. The I.V they had put in my arm while I was in the room had now been moved to my left hand. I turn my head and see Gerard standing there watching me. “How do you feel?” he asks. I turn my head and go back to sleep. A little while later I wake up to the sound of voices. The doctor has given the nurse a room number to bring me to. We slowly start  to roll down the hospital halls till we finally reach my room. “I’m so hungry.” I say.  When we get into the room and get situated I notice other people are in the room. Carolyn, Zach, and Max my brother. The surgery had went well. The doctor said I lost a lot of blood, and that my strength in my right hand would probably never be the same. That scared me. I started asking if I’d ever be able to play football again. Six weeks later I got my cast off and the stitches taken out. I started physical therapy for my hand. It's still not as strong as before. But it's as strong as it can be to me.