Everyone was finally back from Talledega and was safely in North Carolina. Chase was transferred to a nearby hospital in Charlotte. Chase ended up slipping into a coma before the transfer, but luckily the doctors believed it was a sort-term type of thing.
I was at the hospital while Ryan was taking care of things at BMS. Things have gotten a lot busier due to more sponsors wanting to come in, figuring out contacts, hiring more people for the office, and getting cars ready for Homestead. Ryan has also been busy at Penske working on strategy and cars for the next couple of weeks. Everyone was pretty confident we were going to be one of the final four for the championship. None the less Ryan has been very occupied.
"How is he?"
I looked up to see mom walking in.
"Nothing yet. He moved his hand earlier but that's about it." I commented.
"Where's Lennox?"
"Kendall has a cold, she had to stay home from school."
"When does Ryan leave?" She asks pulling up a chair.
"Tonight," I replied watching as Chase's hand moved again. I continued to watch Chase's hand move more than usual. His hand stopped but his head started to move along with his eyelids. "Mom, I think he's trying to wake up," I say standing straight up. Just as mom rushes over those big brown eyes popped open. He blinks a couple of times to scan his surroundings.
"Where am I?" He asks in a raspy voice.
"Honey you're in the hospital. You were in an accident a couple of days ago." Mom explains. "Go get a doctor." She instructs. I walk out and quickly grabbed the attention of Chase's doctor nearby.
"Mr. Elliott, how are we feeling?" The doctor walks in.
"Okay." Chase shrugs but winces in pain. After he settled down he looked up at me every once in a while.
"I'm going to ask you a few questions." The doctor says. "Who's this?" He asks pointing to mom.
"My mom." Chase immediately answers.
"And this?" He asks pointing to me. Chase looks up at me taking a moment to look at my face. He was taking way longer to answer.
"I-I don't know?" He questions himself. I looked over at Mom who was completely shocked.
"I'm your sister Chase," I replied heartbroken.
"Defiantly some memory loss, but nothing time can't fix." The doctor says. He asks a few more questions some Chase knew and some he had a hard timing remembering. "Alright, Mr. Elliott can you move your foot?" He says. He pauses a moment then looks up at Chase. "Anytime Mr. Elliott."
"I am," Chase responds. The doctor nods understandingly then whispers something to the nurse nearby. The nurse brings over some type of acupuncture needle and pokes Chase's foot. He stares questioningly in the distance with no reaction. The doctor did some more tests and finally diagnosed Chase as temporarily paralyzed.
I make some phone calls to give out the news to people. Lennox and Mr. Hendrick were at the top of my list to call. As I was about to dial up Ryan his name pops up on my screen.
"Hey Ry."
"Erin and Jason are on their way to the hospital. Erin went into labor."
"Okay, I'll meet them here."
"I just left work. I'll be over as soon as I can. How's Chase? Anything new?" He questions. I explain the situation to him. I hear him sigh on the other end. "I know Hendrick and Penske are doing a test at Kansas tomorrow. Rick will probably have Sarah come out and do a few test runs."
Rick wanted suggestions for a replacement driver so I asked Emma (Turner). Emma suggested a close friend of hers, Sarah Ross. She raced dirt and also had some history racing stock too.
"Lennox is on her way, and so is Erin. Erin's water broke."
"Aw, that's great! Go with her she needs all the support she can get." Mom encourages. I slipped out of the room to go downstairs and wait for Jason and Erin's arrival. Just as I entered the lobby, Jason comes busting in with his arm wrapped around Erin.
"Thank god you're here," Erin says. "He has no idea what he is doing," Erin adds. A nurse rushes over with a wheelchair and assists her up to a room.
||1 hour later||
@erintaylor: welcome to the world Hudson William Taylor
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Comments: @lennoxelliott: so precious 💙 @emmaconley: lil nephew 🙌 @amandawallace: love this oh my gosh @nascar: congrats! @emmaturner: absolutely adore this! Congrats you guys! @blaney: thought the name was gonna be Ryan Jr. 🤔
||Kansas Speedway- Testing||
After a few test laps with Emma's friend Sarah in the car, speeds and times were pretty impressive. But still, in the back of my mind, I didn't want anybody driving my brother's car. Seemed like everyone was not expecting him to get better. I know my brother and he was going to do whatever it took to get himself back in a car.
"Hendrick needs Sarah," Ryan says.
"Ryan-" my voice trails off. "I don't know if we can."
"Are you serious? Did you not see her lap times and speed?" Emma questions.
"It's my brother's car. I can't stand the fact of someone else driving it." I replied.
"Sarah has potential. It doesn't seem like Chase will be back anytime soon. Rick needs to hire her."
