EFJHS student overcomes accident
EFJHS student Blake Whitten shows the prosthetic leg he wears following a motorcycle accident in December.
EAST FRANKLIN – There are many characteristics about East Franklin ninth grader Blake Whitten that make him stand out from the crowd.
At 15 years old, Blake is an avid sports fan who loves basketball and baseball and rooting for the Crimson Tide.
He is a good student who takes his classes seriously and a good friend to his classmates at East Franklin Junior High.
He is respectful, polite, courageous and strong.
Blake Whitten is also a survivor.
For a long time, Blake has loved motorcycles. His mother, Tamela, said he always wanted to have one, so as soon as he could save up enough money and was able to legally drive one on the road (that age is 14 in Alabama), he purchased a motorcycle.
Blake used his motorcycle to get him where he needed to go, but on the evening of Dec. 1, all of that changed in an instant.
While on his way home from a friend’s house, Blake looked away from the road for just a few moments. When he looked back he saw he was about to crash into the car that had stopped in front of him.
Blake swerved hard to avoid the crash but despite his best efforts, he crashed into the back of the vehicle with his right leg absorbing most of the impact.
Bystanders called 911 and an ambulance rushed Blake to the field near East Franklin Junior High where a helicopter landed to transport him to Huntsville Hospital.
In the meantime, Tamela, who was working at Dr. Morrow’s office in Phil Campbell, received a call no parent ever wants to hear.
“Someone called the office and said one of my boys had a wreck on a motorcycle and I knew right then it was Blake,” Tamela said. “He’s the only one that rides the motorcycle.”
Tamela’s husband, Ricky, and her oldest son, Brent, were at home when they got the phone call and rushed to the scene. Their middle son, Brady, was at ball practice and he and Tamela couldn’t make it to the scene before the helicopter flew Blake to Huntsville.
“We went straight to Huntsville and my oldest son told us how bad it was,” Tamela said. “He said he knew Blake wouldn’t be able to keep his foot.”
The force of the crash had completely broken Blake’s femur bone just below the hip and right above the knee. The damage to his ankle and foot, they found out, was pretty much irreparable.
“It was a crushing injury,” Tamela said. “His ankle didn’t even have any bone left to be put back together.”
Blake underwent surgery the following night and the doctor at Huntsville Hospital said there was a very small chance he could salvage his lower right leg, but he didn’t give much hope.
“He basically said that if they tried to save it, it would require 10 to 12 surgeries, skin grafts and at least a couple of years of time to do all this and even then they still might not be able to save it,” Tamela said. “We knew this was something that Blake would have to live with the rest of his life so we basically let him make the decision.”
Blake said he knew what needed to be done.
“I remember everything that happened after the wreck,” he said. “When I first saw my leg and my foot, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to keep it. I just knew it then.”
Acting with courage and maturity, Blake made the decision to let the doctors amputate his right leg below the knee. The surgery was performed at UAB Hospital on Dec. 7, just six days after the wreck.
“They told me that it would be so advanced that I would still be able to do 99 percent of what I used to do,” he said. “I knew this would be the better option than all those surgeries.”
After three separate hospital stays, including a seven-day stay at UAB the week after the amputation to treat an infection, Blake was finally able to come home on Christmas Eve.
After getting fitted for his prosthetic leg, Blake began physical therapy at the beginning of February at Encore in Russellville.
“The first day was really hard, but it just got easier and easier and now I don’t really think about it,” Blake said. “The hardest thing has been getting my muscle built back up after laying in bed for two months. All my muscle was pretty much gone so physical therapy is helping me with that.”
Blake also has rods and pins in his upper right leg and above his knee that will stay there permanently due to the breaks he sustained.
Even though he has been through a lot in the last three months, Blake is already back to doing most of the things he could do before the wreck and he is determined to keep getting stronger so he can get back to all his normal routines and activities.
He’s back on the East Franklin baseball team playing first base and he hopes physical therapy will help him be able to continue playing basketball – a sport Blake really enjoys.
“Blake has had his bad days during all of this but he’s shown a lot of character and has been so determined,” Tamela said. “He’s had a good attitude.”
The Whittens attend Pleasant Hill First Congregational Methodist Church in East Franklin and Tamela credits the many prayers from their church family, their family and their friends for the way Blake has been able to progress over the last few months.
“We know that God is what has helped us through this situation,” Tamela said. “He has a plan and we can already see how it is working out.
“We have had so many people reaching out to us through prayers and donations and food. There’s no way we could thank everyone but their kindness has been appreciated so much.”
Speaking with wisdom far beyond his years, Blake said he is choosing to look at the bigger picture.
“This has been hard, but if me losing my leg helps save someone else’s life by helping them see the dangers of being careless or not paying attention when you’re on the road, then it’ll be ok,” he said.
To help offset some of the family’s medical costs, friends and family have organized a benefit to be held today at East Franklin Junior High starting at 4 p.m. The event will include an auction, a bake sale and a bean supper.
