‘Why?’ . . . but not ‘Why me?’

by Paul Huggins

Decatur teen still wonders how it happened but admits no self-pity, despite setbacks

One year after her violent boating accident that cost her a leg and four months in the hospital, Molly Moses doesn’t ask “Why me?”

But the Decatur High School senior, as well as the rest of the family, still asks a basic “Why?” Why did her father’s 18-foot fishing boat suddenly lunge sharply to the right and eject Molly and a family friend, A.J. Brown.

The mystery of the late-night mishap on the Tennessee River still “drives us crazy,” Molly said, and it makes her fear going back on the river, which was a favorite family outing prior to the accident.

“It’s not that I’m scared it will happen again,” she said Friday, recuperating at home in her bed after yet another surgery last week to help heal some internal injuries. “If I knew what happened, I think I could get back on a boat easy. But because it’s still a question — why the boat just jumped like that. I mean, we’ve been on it my whole life and that’s never happened. — I’m just not sure I’m ready to go back on the river.

“I know I won’t go back on (dad’s) boat ever,” Molly said. “But I do want to go back on a boat one day, because I want to face my fear.”

Molly’s father, Brian Moses, still has the boat, and he said he was eager to get it in the water after the accident to check for anything that might have led to the mishap. He said he found no problems and even added some safety measures: He’ll only travel with one passenger now, and both the driver and passenger are connected to engine kill switches should either fall from the boat.

“I had some real odd feelings when I first got in the boat. I’ve gotten used to it, but I’m still paranoid cautious,” he said. “And I think the government ought to make it mandatory that everybody in the boat ought to be attached to a kill switch other than just the driver.”

‘Uneasy’ feelings

The first time Molly saw the boat after the July 31, 2009, accident, she said she didn’t get upset, but she felt “uneasy” about it. She said she tries not to stare at it to where she’ll start dwelling on the gruesome event, in which the boat circled around and struck her. The propeller of the 150-horsepower outboard motor ripped deep gashes in her upper left leg, right foot and hip.

After stopping, her father dove in to help and with the help of Brown, they got Molly back into the boat and rushed her to Ingalls Harbor. Witnesses from shore who saw the wreck and another boater they passed called 911, and rescue officials arrived at Ingalls just as the Moseses arrived. Minutes later, a Medflight crew had her on a helicopter en route to Huntsville Hospital, where Molly immediately underwent a 14-hour surgery.

She quickly earned the moniker “Miracle Molly” for defying a slim chance of survival, especially after Medflight nurses reported Molly had apparently no blood left when they found her.

Molly earned the reputation as a fighter at Huntsville Hospital, and despite severe damage to her upper left leg, she was able to keep most of it. Doctors did a partial amputation, leaving Molly a stump from which she could more easily adapt to a prosthetic limb.


But even the prosthetic has been an ordeal since she was custom-fitted for one in April.

Still has pain

Molly said she still has pain in the damaged right foot when she stands on it, and surgeons will try to correct that in a couple of weeks. Furthermore, there is too little body tissue between the femur bone of her amputated leg and the end of her stump, so she feels pain at the stump point and easily gets sores when trying to walk in the prosthetic.

Last spring, Molly hoped she’d be able to walk to classes once school resumed in August, instead of playing catch-up with online classes. Now, she must wait for another surgery to shave down some of the bone at the point of her stump and get another skin graft to remedy the pain issue of walking in the prosthetic.

Frustrating?

Absolutely, Molly said, but the past year has taught her patience and revealed a inner strength to endure the setbacks and disappointments.

“I didn’t know how strong I was until this happened,” she said. “So when something goes wrong, like learning to walk, you just have to find a way to get through it. I do get frustrated, but I think (the accident) happened to me because I was strong enough to deal with it and nobody else would have been.

“Everything happens for a reason and I just have to be patient,” she said.

The biggest frustration, Molly said, is recuperating from multiple surgeries and being forced to take it easy. She doesn’t look forward to doing anything in particular once she can walk and forget about hospital visits.

“I just want to be able to get out when I want and do what I want whenever I want. Just getting back to life,” Molly said.

Molly’s mother, Polly Moses, said the family has learned to appreciate the “times we can coast” in between stressful moments and setbacks, and the situation forces them to let tomorrow worry about itself.

Still, she said it’s hard for her not to worry about Molly’s future.

“She’s got a lifetime of injuries and there’s probably going to be complications for a lifetime,” Polly said “And I think about children. I want her to have children some day, and I worry if she can handle it physically.

“But we just take it one day at a time,” she said. “We don’t usually cry until we all get worn out. Then we get a good night’s rest and start over.”

Only explanation

As for the mysterious cause of the accident, Brian said, the only explanation is they hit something submerged underwater. Feeling responsible for the accident, he said he went through a difficult time emotionally that was tough to get past.

“But there were so many miracles that were overcome, and that’s what I think about now,” he said. “Molly’s been just an unbelievable inspiration to me with her courage and her strength and her ability to stay happy and stay positive in such a negative situation.

“Other than her ability to get up and walk,” Brian concluded, “she’s still the same happy person as before.”

A celebration

The Moses family had planned to host an appreciation event at Ingalls Harbor on Saturday.

But Molly is still recovering from surgery, so the event was postponed. The family is working with the Decatur Jaycees to include an appreciation segment as part of Riverfest in September.




Decatur Daily.com