My Life In Jerry Spinelli's Crash

Much like the main John “Crash” Coogan in Jerry Spinelli’s novel Crash, a significant event happened in my life that I do not technically remember. While I was quite young when it occurred, I can not recall incident, yet I feel like I do because I have heard the story so many times.

My life was forever changed the day my hand was severely burned.

At the age of 18 months, I attended daycare like many young children of working parents. I was the “all-American” boy that like to play with trucks and blocks. During a Wednesday afternoon after my nap, I was stacking a tower of colorful wooden and plastic blocks. Suddenly my tower toppled over and a rust-colored block slid under a pipe that ran along the baseboard of the playroom. It was my

Like any boy would do, I grappled for the block tugging and tugging with all my might. In a sudden instant, my cries for the lost block turned to sharp cries for help. Unbeknownst to my daycare provider, my hand was being scorched by the pipe that secured my block.

The daycare had a central heating system. Pipes attached to the walls along the perimeter of the room transfered hot water for hydronic heating. Unfortunately, the pipe was not covered correctly and the pipe singed my hand.

In sheer panic, 911 was called and my parents were notified of the accident. The only recollection I have is through word of mouth. Even today I can picture the event as I replay the images in my mind. Sometimes I still have flashes of the ambulance ride to the hospital. At night when it’s dark and silent, I can hear the panic in the EMT’s voices as they stabilized me for the hospital. I imagine an image of myself paralyzed and numb from the intense pain.

As a result of the occurrence, I had emergency surgery to repair the third degree burn. I am told this was done with a skin graft the required the surgical team to use skin from my groin to repair my tiny