Blanco Family Survives Car Crash
Photo Credit: MAC
Blanco Family
Sara Kelliher, Staff Writer
April 2, 2012
Filed under Local News, News
On January 1, 2012, Jose Blanco and his wife Meira, who works in the VE class, were on their way home from watching the Festival of Lights at Tradewinds Park with his sister, mother, and his daughter Catherine, when their car was hit from behind by a man who fled the crime scene. The car flipped a few times, but thankfully landed right side up. Once the car stopped, Mr. Blanco realized that his daughter wasn’t in the car. The impact had sent Catherine through the back window landing on the grass. More things could have gone wrong, but as Mr. Blanco sees it, God would not allow it.
“We are here because of God,” said Mr. Blanco. “You can’t have that many coincidences come together that perfectly for things to end up how they did.”
Mr. Blanco refers to the simple details of choosing which car to take, leaving their son, David, at home, as well as leaving a cell phone behind in case of emergencies. Even afterwards, the way that people so quickly ran out of their cars to help them and take the license plate number of the hit-and-run driver, was, in Mr. Blanco’s eyes, orchestrated by God.
“It was reaffirming to know that God was using other people to help us while I tried to take care of my daughter,” said Mr. Blanco, who after managing to pull himself out of the car, ran out to focus completely on Catherine. She, on the other hand, was worried about the others, still trapped in the car.
The crash was too much to take in for David, who was at home when he first received the news.
“I didn’t know how to react, because I have never had someone seriously injured in my family,” said David. “I can appreciate them more now because of what happened.”
The family was checked into Broward General Hospital, and since Catherine had more severe injuries, including a broken femur, she had to be air lifted to the hospital. Mrs. Blanco described her daughter in one word: selfless.
“Catherine was so courageous and incredible,” said Mrs. Blanco. “She was thinking of us all the time and didn’t want us to hear her suffer, because she was afraid we would suffer for her.”
Everyone in the family is recuperating well, and although they are still negotiating all the financial details with their insurance (the driver was caught but didn’t have insurance), life is good. “By God’s grace we survived this crash,” repeated Mr. Blanco, as he looked over at his family with tears in his eyes.