Opening The Gifts of Christmas

Practicing the Angelic Gifts of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Love

Compiled by: Jennifer Basye Sander & Jamie Miller

Behind The Story

I enjoy contributing stories to anthologies. This book includes my firsthand account of a pivotal event in our family.

The day after our Thanksgiving dinner gathering, my nephew, Ryan Hickey, was in a near-fatal, single-car accident. His pickup plunged off an embankment and crashed into a large tree. Without his seatbelt secured, he was tossed like a ragdoll inside the cab of his truck, sustaining a traumatic brain injury. Near death, he was Life-Flighted to a trauma hospital, where he remained in a coma in the ICU while our family kept vigil.

To cope with the heartache of Ryan’s life-changing accident and to communicate with extended family via daily email, I wrote a diary of God’s grace and subsequent blessings throughout the ordeal.

This is Ryan’s abbreviated story compiled from that 30-day diary. It’s called “While You Were Sleeping”, on page 35.