‘A second chance’

“I thought about stopping, and next thing I remember is waking up to being cut out of the truck.”

OOIDA member Marc Robinson recounts the events of that fateful night as well as he can from what could have been a fatal crash during a winter storm in Ohio.

According to a report from the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the incident took place about 1 a.m. on Jan. 16. The three-vehicle crash occurred when Robinson’s truck collided with another truck on Interstate 76 in Portage County. A third truck then collided with some of the cargo that was ejected in the initial crash. Other than Robinson, no driver was injured.

Robinson, who lives in Challis, Idaho, was on his way to Peoria, Ill. A Navy veteran who served in Beirut, Lebanon, Robinson has memorialized on his truck military personnel who died in Beirut between 1982 and 1984. More than 200 soldiers, he said. He’d planned to meet the daughter of one of them on this trip so she could see on his truck the image of a father she’d never met.

As he stopped in Hubbard, Ohio, to refuel and such, Robinson noted the parking lot was starting to get icy. A winter storm was in the weather forecast. Consulting his electronic logging device, he believed he could get to Akron, Ohio – but couldn’t count on finding parking there. He remembered, though, that truck parking typically is available at the Walmart in Kent, Ohio.

Robinson remembers that there wasn’t much traffic as he made his way to Kent … and that’s where his recollection of anything before the accident ends.

In the accident, the cab of his truck completely detached and flew 75 yards through the air, Robinson later learned. All that remained were the seats and the frame around them. His dog, Daisy, was in the truck with him and was thrown another 20 yards into the woods from where the cab landed.

As the paramedics attended to Robinson, he reached over to grab his arm because he thought it wasn’t there. The paramedics told him he couldn’t feel it because it was splinted and in a tourniquet. But as he would learn, his arm was also “degloved,” meaning the skin was torn from the muscle, connective tissue and bone. Law enforcement later told him it was the type of accident most don’t survive.

Once Robinson was in an ambulance, a medic began to cut off his jacket – a Beirut jacket from his Navy service. That jacket became a point of conversation, and upon learning the medic was a Navy corpsman, Robinson said to him, “Good, I’m going to live.”

But the news wasn’t as promising once he reached the hospital, where a doctor informed Robinson saving his injured arm wasn’t guaranteed. “I’m a truck driver,” he replied. “I have to have both arms.”

He eventually came to understand, though, why keeping the arm hadn’t been an option.

“I didn’t realize the extent of the crash until I was back home and looked at the medical records,” Robinson told Land Line. “With the arm the way it was, I would have been fighting infections and wouldn’t have survived.”

When he woke up from surgery with no arm, he was understandably upset and wondered, “What now?”

“I called my wife, who said she told the doctors, ‘If they couldn’t save your arm, save your life,’” he said.

A highway patrol officer and local fire chief were among the visitors Robinson had while hospitalized.

“Both told me they have never pulled anyone out of a wreck like that,” he said. “They’d never seen anyone survive a wreck half as bad as that. My wife wouldn’t even let them show me photos at that time. That’s how bad it was.”

Navy veterans and even FBI agents visited Robinson, having seen his Beirut memorial truck at events in the past. One of those FBI agents reminded Robinson of how he had comforted the agent’s mother when she broke down upon seeing her brother’s name on Robinson’s truck.

Once Robinson was cleared to travel home, another hurdle to navigate was reuniting with Daisy. The dog had been taken in by the Rootstown Fire Department during Robinson’s hospital stay and had recovered from her injuries for the most part, but taking her home by plane wasn’t recommended.

Rootstown Fire Chief Chuck Palmer and his wife, Rose, along with another firefighter, were able to get a loaner car from a local dealership and drove Daisy from Ohio to Missouri. Sandy Grover, a former business partner of Robinson, also offered assistance – as did Jonathan and Julie Rial, truckers from Oklahoma who finished driving Daisy to Idaho.

The willingness of others to drop everything and help Robinson in this way perhaps speaks to the impact he’s had. And now – despite the lack of certainty about his future he felt while lying in his hospital bed – he’s made up his mind to continue being who he always was.

“For 40 years, I’ve driven trucks,” he said. “I’ve got to support my family, and my only option is to get back on the road. If I find out I can’t do that, then we’ll look at something else.”

After being fitted with a prosthetic at a Veterans Affairs hospital, Robinson is adjusting to that and plans to start driving a truck locally, with hopes to eventually return to work as an over-the-road driver.

And in the meantime, he’s taking everything step by step, he said – with gratitude that he still has steps to take.

“I shouldn’t have lived,” Robinson added. “My wife doesn’t let me get away with feeling sorry for myself. This is a second chance.” LL

Editor’s note: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Skill Performance Evaluation program allows drivers with missing or impaired limbs to drive in interstate commerce after being fitted with a prosthetic device and demonstrating the ability to drive a truck.