By Gabby Landsverk, Staff Writer
One year ago Darin Hayes, a Little Falls native, was in the hospital with multiple fractures to his hips, knee and arm, facing a holiday in the hospital.
This Christmas, Darin said he feels lucky to be alive and home with his family, although the scars, literal and figurative, of the accident continue to linger for him and his family.
The evening of Oct. 25, 2014, Darin was on his way home from work in Monticello when an intoxicated driver swerved into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with Darin’s vehicle.
Darin was released from the hospital and returned to his home in Clearwater in January.
Even after multiple surgeries and more than 50 hours in the operating room, Darin’s physical abilities are still limited because of injuries he sustained in the crash. He will likely never be able to bend his knees normally.
“I will never be where I was,” he said. “I tried going back to work, but there’s not much I can do.”
Darin had to resign from his job at Aroplex in September — he was unable to work the same long 13-hour days as before.
Sarah said the recovery process has been difficult as her husband has struggled through physical therapy, weaned himself off pain medication and try to manage ordinary daily tasks on his own.
The hardest part, Sarah said, is coming to accept that things will never be quite the same for their family, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be happy.
“It isn’t how we thought it would be. … It’s learning a new life,” Sarah said. “It’s still new to us every day.”
In May, Darin gathered a group of friends and family and tackled a 5K walk for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
Sarah wrote on her blog that Darin, while exhausted, was passionately committed to the walk and completed the approximately 3.2 miles without stopping for a break.
With support from MADD advocates, Darin continues to fight a legal battle against the man who hit him and hopes to eventually help advocate and educate about drunk driving.
“It’s a huge epidemic,” Sarah said.
The family has pushed forward with a relentless optimism, Sarah said, and a desire to live in the moment.
Thus, even in the midst of adversity, they’ve found a silver lining — Darin, no longer working 70-hour weeks, is finally able to spend more time with his family.
“Our family has never had more time together,” Sarah said.
Darin has taken up hobbies to help around the home, such as cooking, gardening and woodworking, and now prepares many of the family meals.
“Mostly the complicated ones,” Darin joked.
In the past weeks, Darin has rarely missed his daughter Madison’s volleyball games and can regularly attend events and spend quality time with sons Monty and Myles.
Sarah added that the three have been hugely supportive of their father during his difficult recovery.
“I was so proud of how the kids behaved,” Sarah said, recounting how they patiently ran up the stairs of the family’s home to retrieve necessities for Darin.
Sarah said that the family also felt a huge outpouring of support from the community after the accident.
“I have no way of thanking everyone enough,” Sarah said.
She added, however, that while a benefit was held to help cover medical expenses, the family is still struggling to make ends meet.
They continue to face the reality of the accident’s psychological, physical and financial consequences every day, she added.
“It’s hard to realize that life goes on for everyone else,” Sarah said.
In spite of the sometimes-daunting task of getting through each day, Sarah said the Hayes family is strong enough to handle whatever comes their way.
“We don’t have a choice,” Sarah said. “We’re strong because we have to be. And we have hope.”
Darin, for his part, said things are so much better than they were a year ago; he now knows more about himself, and has learned the only way to heal is to keep moving forward.
“There are so many things you learn after an accident,” Darin said. “Once you hit bottom, there’s no place you can go but up.”