In Memory of Brant...

This post is in memory of my uncle, Brant Hannah.

At 10:44pm (EST) on Sept. 17, 2010 I received a phone call from my mother. She was crying...... The first thing she said to me was "Chera, I have some bad news." Immediately I thought the call had something to do with my grandpa. He has been very sick and I haven't been looking forward to that call. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that it was my uncle Brant. She told me that he had been in a horrible accident and that he might not make it through that night and she was sorry for calling so late, but she didn't want me to be mad at her later on. She told me she would keep me updated as soon as she knew what was going on.

After I hung up with her I started bawling...probably the hardest I have ever cried. Stewart held me close and told me that it was going to be okay...that I just needed to have faith. I collapsed onto the floor and just cried and cried.

I got another call from her at 11:57pm telling me that they did an Endotrachel Tube so he could breathe and they were going to be doing a full body CAT scan to see what other injures, besides a huge laceration on the back top of his skull. She told me that she would call me after the CAT scan was finished to tell me what they had found. I never got that call...... instead I got a call at 2:26am... All my mom said was "Chera... He is gone. There are other people that I need to call so I will call you later." He had passed away from heart failure. The doctors and nurses tried for 15 minutes to resuscitate him... at 11:05pm (MTN time) they had to call it. My mom and Brant's girlfriend were the only ones at the hospital when he passed away. My mom had to call her siblings and parents to tell them the news.

Immediately I called one of my sister's, Wendi. We mostly cried, but we did try to laugh when we would tell each other the memories that we were thinking of at that moment. I asked her if she knew what they had found in the CAT scan. She told me the CAT scan had found he had bleeding on the brain, a broken spine (my mom actually told me that the doctor said that it was severed at the waist and that he would not be able to walk again), several broken bones, and  his right lung had collapsed because it had been punctured by a broken bone.

Yesterday my mom told me that he was in his brother, Jarrom's truck in the White Mountains... Just outside of a town called Greer. (He was an hour away from his parents house)... I was told that he was heading to St. Johns (that is where my grandparents live) and he had a trailer, which was filled with big pieces of metal, on the back of the truck. The trailer was too heavy. He veered to the left a little and the trailer fishtailed. The truck flipped and then rolled at least 3-4 times...catching about 6 ft. of air or so each time. The truck hit a tree...tearing the top of the truck off. He was ejected from the truck and was laying in a field when he was found. He was air evacuated to a hospital in Scottsdale.

My Uncle Brant was an awesome guy. I have SO many memories flooding back to me. This is seriously one of the hardest deaths I have had happen in my family. I was very close to him. He was 6 months older than Stew...... Brant would be turning 31 on October 24th. It hasn't really hit that he is gone. I think it will be the hardest on his birthday after I realize that I can't call him.

I love you so much, Brant! I have a testimony of the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. I know that someday I will see you again, happy and perfect in every way! I miss you so much already.

Brant Hannah

Born October 24, 1979

Passed Away September 17, 2010