Parents write miracle story after son survives car wreck
Published: August 21, 2005
Hal and Bea Bea Whitlock knew their joy over their son Evan’s progress was too great to keep to themselves.
Evan, now a robust 7-year-old, continues to amaze them about two years after he was almost killed in a Sumter County wreck. The family’s journey prompted Evan’s dad to write and publish a book, “10-4, Good Buddy: A Miracle Story.” Evan’s mother contributed. So far, they have sold 800 books.
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful story that didn’t need to stay quiet,” Hal Whitlock said.
The nearly 250-page paperback recounts the Turbeville family’s ordeal that began Oct. 4, 2003. Evan, his mother, great-aunt and grandmother were on their way to Columbia on U.S. 378 when a Ford Explorer crashed into their Chevy Blazer, critically injuring Evan.
The driver, James Brand, 57, of Lake City, was charged with felony driving under the influence, four counts of assault and battery with intent to kill, failure to stop for a blue light, being a habitual offender and not wearing a seat belt. A trial date has not been set for Brand, who is out on bond.
Evan spent months recovering at Palmetto Health Richland Children’s Hospital and Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta. He returned home for good in January 2004.
The book’s title came to Bea Bea Whitlock on Christmas Day 2003. A particular phrase kept coming to mind.
“I kept hearing, ‘10-4, good buddy,’” she said.
Puzzled at first, she realized “10-4” was Oct. 4, the day of the wreck. But what was “good buddy?” Then it came to her.
“God, you’ve been our good buddy,” she said.
She told her husband about it, convinced that’s what they should title the testimony they planned to share. They decided to take it a step further and write the book.
“Whether it sold, whether it didn’t, we knew it was a burden that was on our heart to do it,” he said.
Evan is at Scottish Rite this weekend to undergo a neuro-evaluation to check his progress, his dad said.
“He’s excited about seeing everybody in Atlanta. We just don’t know if they will recognize him. He is solid. When he left, they could pick him up and squeeze him. Now they can’t,” he said.
Even without the test, his family easily can see how far Evan has come from the little boy, once comatose, who had to learn to walk and talk all over again.
A second-grader at Walker Gamble Elementary School, Evan finished school last year on the principal’s honor roll and won a “ton of awards,” his father said.
“Evan is a brilliant, sweet child. He has a compassion that adults should long for. … We are learning more from him than he is from us.”
Evan’s next role will be that of a big brother. The Whitlocks are expecting their second child in February. They learned the news this past Father’s Day. Bea Bea Whitlock also found out she was pregnant with Evan on Father’s Day 1997.
“Evan is real excited. He wants a boy but said he’ll love a girl, too,” his father said.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: