Vikki Hunt Updates
Vikki Hunt in an horrific car accident with a multiple miracle story following.
Vikki was seriously injured in a car accident, Saturday, October 14, 2017. She was traveling back home to Centerville from Ottumwa, Iowa. Four miles west of Ottumwa, in a bad rain storm, her car hydo-planed into on-coming traffic and was T-Boned on the driver's door. It took 1 1/2 hours to get Vikki out of the car. Both of her lower legs were crushed with multiple compound fractures between her ankles and knees. Her right femur was broken and her left pelvis, left collarbone, and left scapula were cracked.
By the time they got her to the Ottumwa emergency room, she had lost so much blood that her hemoglobin was down to five (5) and she coded once. They gave her blood and put her in a chopper to Mercy hospital in Des Moines. She coded second time in flight.
I was not notified via a sheriff deputy handing me a note for three hours about the accident. A Sheriff deputy handed me a note saying, "Call this number, you wife was in a bad car accident west of Ottumwa. " By the time I got to Des Moines with family, Vikki had already coded twice and was on total life support. After arriving in Mercy she received 23 units of blood. (Many units of blood at first and then allot through her many surgeries...so many surgeries that we actually lost count after surgery #13 or so.
After a month in Mercy, she was transferred to Iowa City University Hospitals where they decided both of her lower legs were too damaged to be saved. In the meantime her kidneys shut down and she had to go on dialysis. Plus when an antibiotic and another diretic drug were given at the same time, she lost 65% of her hearing in both ears. (When those two drugs get together, they kill the auditory nerses.) After her hearing loss, Vikki was immediately sent back to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines.
What a nightmare journey! Here is a PTL! After six weeks of dialysis, Vikki's kidneys woke up. We will tell you how that happened a bit later. Vikki spent the last six (6) weeks of her 90 days in the hospital at Mercy in acute rehab before being released to go home on January 13, 2018.
In home therapy has been positive since getting back home. Her stubs have healed well, and she now has two lower leg prosthetics which definitely are a challenge. Vikki remains with some dizziness issues from the accident impact. Dizzy and balance do not go well together!
We thank everyone the GATEWAY TEAM through these difficult moments. . We thank all who prayed, sent cards of encouragement, and sent needed funds to financially help through this difficult time. Please keep pray ng. We have a long ways to go before she will be vertical on her prosthetics and without a walker.
For Vikki Hunt updates - The latest update is posted by date. Thank you for praying and for staying in touch with God and us.
September 19, 2020 Thank you for praying and thinking of us. Vikki continues with PT each week, doing exercising at home, and is walking with her canes. Her PT has her working on her core muscles, balance, walking up and down inclines, etc. Her goal is to have Vikki walking hands free. Please pray about that.
Sept 20-26, John, Joel, Matt, Brian and some volunteers will be finishing siding, soffit, insulating, hanging doors, insulating and hanging sheetrock, cutting access door from house into roll-in closet, etc. When the above tasks are completed, then the wiring can be finished and inspected. When the trimming and painting is done, then the flooring can go in. Hopefully they can get most of it done this next week and before colder weather arrives.
After that, closet organizers on the inside, and guttering on the outside. Next Spring, a new deck-style porch from our front door over to garage approach needs to be built. The old cement front porch is putting too much pressure on the basement cement block wall.
Thank you for your prayerful support. We are grateful to God and His people who have made this a reality. And most thankful for volunteers who have come to make this safer, user friendly ground level addition possible! If you would like to be part of this team effort, Donhunt2@gmail.com There is plenty to do!
May 7, 2021 Brother John came this Spring from IN to put down the flooring in two small rooms, trimmed the two small rooms and walkway entrance, finished the garage ceiling sheetrock, added wall handrails, and finished his work here. Jim and Marette came twice from MN and painted walls and ceiling in walkway and 2 small rooms, installed closet organizer, built and installed work cabinet and storage area / shelving for Vikki. Brad came and got all the basic electrical installed to pass IA code. He will return in the Fall to finish up the main electrical panel update. Joel and several men from the Indianola Ch of Chr came several times to help us. All has come together to make a much safer user friendly home for us. We thank all who help and those who provided needed funds.
We just finished stabilizing our front basement wall and still have some things to finish. Window trim, and sheetrock mud and tape in garage. Our two sons, Matt and Monte, and Don's two brothers are coming in May to build a replacement front porch on our house. Our son-in-law Brian will probably get tied into that too! The old porch was in bad shape and so they will build a small deck-style front porch with front steps where the ramp and old porch were sitting. Marvin and Brant from the Promise City church have helped us in getting the old cement front porch removed and hauled away and with rocking our circle drive. We've updated to a 2014 vehicle to add hand controls. Vikki drives amazingly well! She took five one-hour driving sessions, renewed her license, and this has given her more freedom. She is gaining strength and mobility, yet still struggles with dizziness. We've had a few singing dates this Spring with covid a bit relaxed now. Yet few churches invite or want anyone to talk or sing to their flock except their local team. One appearance is in IN for our close friends, the Renihan's, 60th, now their 61st wedding anniversary. . It had to be postponed from last year, so June 6, we will be singing where they minister at Cyntheanne Chr Ch, close to Fishers, IN near Indianapolis.
If you are within Sunday afternoon driving distance of SE Iowa and want a special Sunday evening "Night of Praise", contact DonHunt2@gmail.com .
Thank you for your continued prayers and cards of encouragement. They mean a lot to us and make life easier on this end. Every day is a challenge, but none bigger than our God! PO Box 65 Centerville, IA 52544
May 15, 2020 PTL! Vikki is doing well, gaining strength and mobility, even though she has not been able to go to PT since the virus broke out. (The hospital environment is too risky.) She does her exercises at home. The Hunt’s have a functional ground-level garage addition shell up. It is much safer for both of us since its ground level with no steps.
John, our Christian construction contractor / Bible college friend lives in South Bend, IN as cannot return to finish because of travel restrictions and safety issues. So the garage shell is up and is functional, just not completed. No siding, no shingles, limited wiring with one outlet for her power chair and garage door opener, no guttering, no insulation or sheet rock, the two small rooms have not been built, etc. It will happen, as with our ministry, on God’s timing.
January 28, 2020 Vikki continues to gain strength and is doing remarkably well. Her days are filled with many exercises, riding a stationary bike, walking in parallel bars, VOR retraining eye exercises. Plus going to PT once each week. Her therapist is so good for Vikki. Appreciate your prayers for relief from imbalance so she can walk hands free. This is her goal!
House addition: All the cement is poured, i.e. footings, foundation walls, garage slab, and garage approach. The trusses are here. The materials to shell in the outside structure and roof, etc. are ready for delivery. Just waiting for a break in the weather for a dear Christian brother to come build the shell and close it in. There are some volunteers who have offered to come help him. We still need to raise 8 – 10 grand to finish the inside with electricity, heat, siding, guttering, insulation, install outside door into house from addition, etc. We thank those who have sacrificially helped fund this project to make it safer and more convenient for us to continue living here and continuing our ministry outreach through song and word. This is the addition that God’s people built out of the goodness of their hearts. We thank you from our hearts as well.
December 3, 2019 The cement footing for our ground-level garage are poured. Dec 4, the lower cement wall footings for the garage will be poured. Then gravel-fill will be put in with packed layers, then garage cement slab poured, then garage approach will be poured. As funds are available, we will get the garage shell closed in, hopefully before too much winter weather becomes a safety issue. If adequate funds are not available, we will be able to use the flat garage floor to get us safely into the house. Thank you to our friends with generous hearts who have made this possible to get us to this point. Progressing with the Lord's help for safety!
November 19 Vikki had a E N G test run by neurologist to sort out the source of her dizziness. They determined that it comes from her inner ears. There is no medicine to take for that. She is doing vestibular ocular reflex (VOR) exercises with her eyes to create stronger positive signals for balance than the dizzy signals. Please pray for relief! Vikki continues to gain core strength and mobile with PT at hospital and exercising at home. She works hard everyday to gain strength. Our treadmill quit working so we are now searching for a quality exercise bike.
The cement contractor is supposed to come in this week to start the foundation / footing work for a one-level garage on our house. We have are short 3 grand on funds for cement work and are short about 15 grand to build the garage structure, so the garage structure may not be able to be built right now. It all de[pends upon funds. There is a go-fund-me account set up to help with construction costs.
It necessary to at least get the footing and foundation work done this Fall to get us into our house from the cement ground-level garage slab, even if the garage structure cannot be built. Safety is key to our future life and ministry. The Gateway Singers has three concerts in our area at the end of November and will take a brief break.
Thank you for your prayerful and financial support of our family and work for Jesus.
Vikki Hunt Fund PO Box 65 Centerville, IA 52544 “CONSTRUCTION” in the memo!
Psalms 26:4 "Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord, the Lord is the Rock eternal." (Some translation say, "we have an everlasting Rock.") And we do! Psalms 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."
August 20, 2019 Vikki continues to gain strength and is progressing well in therapy. Her goal is to walk hand free with her two lower leg prosthetics. Dizziness is the enemy of balance. Pray that God will intervene with her dizziness. Vikki’s physical therapists is the best and such a patient teacher in helping her with coaching and ways of walking better, negotiating turns, using her walker and/or canes, conquering balance issues, gaining strength through exercising at home, etc. We feel that God led us to the right PT dept. and right therapist. Pray that the Lord will work a miracle and relieve her dizziness. This is very frustrating and limiting!
Hearing is still a challenge, even with good hearing aids. We are amazed at her singing ability with 65% hearing loss issues. The gateways continue singing, as her strength and mobility improves; allowing us to travel and minister. BOOKINGS: If you are within a few hours of SE Iowa and would like to book the Gateway Singers for a special Sunday evening praise concert, we would enjoy bringing our 50 year ministry of encouragement to your church and community. Contact Don Hunt don@gatewaysingers.com. His phone number is in the left column of this website.
GARAGE ADDITION: We have prayed and waited on the Lord to provide the necessary funds to build a ground level garage addition to our home. The Lord has provided enough funds to show us it's time to pour the concrete foundation, garage slab, and garage approach. And with a third local contractor’s proposal, the concrete foundation number ended up being around 18 grand, down from 25.5 grand and 35 grand from the first two concrete contractor's proposals.
We are currently three (3) grand short of reaching the amount needed for the cement work and 17 grand short on enough funds for building the garage addition structure. The cement contractor plans to begin doing the foundation and fill work around September 1st. We are proceeding by faith that this is God’s will to do this project. We know God has enough available funds to meet what is lacking. Let the Lord lead your heart as your think and pray about this. Some have already shared what they can and it has helped us accomplish many home modifications for safety. Please pass the word around to others about this need. Thank you.
PTL for two Christian brothers who have agreed and volunteered to come build the garage structure of the 26’ wide x 22’ deep ground level garage addition - after the foundation work is finished. When it's time to build, it will be good for other Christians who have building skills to come help these brothers with framing, siding, roofing, hanging sheet rock, mudding, trimming, flooring, electrical, installing windows and doors, garage door and opener, etc.
GOAL: Between now and April1st, will you speak with your church mission’s people about sending a generous love-gift, doing a fund-raising meal, yard sale, or any other creative ways God shows you for helping get this built and finished, helping get the addition structure built. We are so close to being done with this and we thank you for your prayers and generous spirits. This addition will keep us safer, be user friendly, and allow us to continue using our talents for Jesus. Send gifts to:
Vikki Hunt Fund PO Box 65 Centerville, IA 52544
Write "construction" in the memo line. Thank you for your prayerful and financial support.
Don G. Hunt II