Dear Editor,
After reading your editorial some weeks back concerning the condition of Rt. 2 above Sistersville and the promises for years to fix it, I would like to relate a story in the state of Ohio around 7:30 am on March 28, 1998. We lived in Parkersburg at the time and my husband Robert Bolen worked for Purolater and drove to Pittsburgh to meet the plane every other night. After several days of rain he drove the Van on Rt. 7 when the hillside came down and rocks hit him and disabled the Van.
He was lighting flares to warn others when a young man came down the center of the road and failed to see him He was struck by the car, his body rolled over the car went airborne for 70 feet before landing. I was leaving for work and dropping my daughter off at high school when they called saying there had been an accident. I was told to go to OVGH Trauma Center, they were taking him there from Ohio Regional and the Doctor was riding with him. I knew then it was critical. For 31 days and nights I lived at the hospital with family and friends coming by. I slept in the waiting room and they gave me a place to shower. This happended on a Tuesday and by Friday his brain was bleeding and swelling and he went into a coma. They had to operate and part of his speech center had to be removed.
He suffered internal injuries, multiple fractures to both legs, severe head trauma and punctured intestines. Five months he lay in a coma. When he came to we tried everything including many hospitals in three states. We suffered through a lot of difficulties from his condition, including some abuse with caretakers at the hospitals. I always smiled a lot but because of his condition and what caused it I became very hateful. We eventually went to Florida to live and get better care but he passed away.
Because people didn’t listen there were three more accidents at the place where he got hurt before they redid the road.
Please contact the Governor or whoever it takes to fix the road. It could be your family next. Bob had nine beautiful Grandchildren he never knew. The hillside and rocks just keep on falling. To end my story, a few years ago I was on my way to Paden City and the fog was dense. A car came towards me flashing it’s lights and just ahead was a huge boulder taking up the whole right side of the road. But, there may not always be those flashing lights in warning.
Helen Bolen, Sistersville, WV