‘We turned him over to God ...’
Graduate of South Rowan High School recovers after being struck by car at college

BY FRANK DeLOACHE
SALISBURY POST

Hours later, the South Rowan High School graduate lay in the intensive care unit at Pitt Memorial Hospital, unable to acknowledge family members gathered around him.

He didn’t arouse from that deep sleep for 10 days.

And yet, this week, Mark Eagle’s parents, Glenn Eagle and Nancy LeQuire, brought him home to Rowan County.

Mark still needs rehabilitation at Rowan Regional Medical Center. But except for his leaner frame and a mark over one eye, you might have trouble telling he’d suffered such a serious injury, said his father, Glenn.

“We turned him over to God on the way” to the hospital, said Glenn Eagle. “Many prayers were lifted up through churches in Rowan and Cabarrus County, and I can tell you prayers were answered.”

Glenn Eagle is assistant principal at China Grove Middle School, in his 21st year with the school system. Nancy LeQuire has taught for 26 years at Faith Elementary School.

Glenn attends First United Methodist Church in China Grove, and Nancy and Jerry LeQuire are members of Mount Mitchell United Methodist in Kannapolis.

Besides their churches, the list of supporters “is unbelievable,” Glenn Eagle said Thursday. “The principals association has reached out. Every church almost in Landis and the South Rowan school district.”

Mark’s friends from South Rowan High, where he was a wrestler, have called.

“The cards have been unbelievable. We have had visitors at ECU from people who knew Mark. ... If I tried to name everybody, I’d leave somebody out. I don’t know how you repay people like that.”

The ringing telephone roused Glenn Eagle from sleep around 3 a.m. on Feb. 19.

Ramsey Conner, an East Carolina student and longtime friend of Mark’s, had come across the accident scene and rode with Mark in the ambulance. He was calling from the hospital.

Glenn Eagle threw some clothes, his cellular phone and charger in a small suitcase and immediately left for Greenville.

Nancy and Jerry LeQuire left just as quickly.

Once there, they learned that Mark suffered a couple of cracked ribs, a collapsed lung and a crack in his pelvic bone. But by far the most serious was the head injury. The impact knocked him 51 feet.

Police told Glenn Eagle that the driver said he didn’t see Mark and never slowed. An initial breath test showed the driver had a blood alcohol level of .09, and he was charged with driving while impaired. A later test showed the level at .07, just under the legal limit. Police told Glenn Eagle that a magistrate decided to drop the charge.

Glenn Eagle said he and Nancy weren’t dwelling on fault, just Mark.

“He did not come to for 10 days,” Glenn Eagle said. “Every two hours, we could see him for 15 minutes. We talked to him.”

The LeQuires got a hotel room across the street, and “I only left when she came back,” Glenn Eagle said.

Though he couldn’t speak, Mark Eagle seemed to sense when it was time to summon his strength. After 10 days, doctors were preparing to put a tube down his throat to help him breath, his father said.

That day, he started opening his eyes. “We knew he knew we were there,” his father said.

But three days later, he fell back into unconsciousness — Glenn Eagle preferred to think of it as a deep sleep — for another 2 1/2 days.

On the 15th day, his sister, Angela Stanley, arrived for a visit from out of town. Two hours later, Mark Eagle awoke again, this time able to say a few slurred words.

Yet another benchmark came on the third Friday after the accident. Worried that Mark was still being fed through tubes and could not yet swallow adequately, “they were getting ready to put a tube in his stomach,” his dad said.

But Glenn Eagle asked a nurse to give him one final test. Mark passed and enjoyed his first real meal on March 10.

Since then, Mark has improved every day, his father said.

He left the intensive care unit March 15, spent three days in a regular room and, on March 17, transferred to Winston-Salem, to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, for rehabilitation closer to home.

Remarkably, after less than a week, doctors at Baptist let his parents bring Mark home. His first night at the LeQuires’ home was Wednesday, and this morning, he reported to Rowan Regional for out-patient rehabilitation.

He’s already regained seven of the 30 pounds he lost. Most of that was muscle, Glenn Eagle said. His son had kept lifting weights at East Carolina, and his physical condition, combined with excellent medical care and the support of family and friends, probably contributed to his remarkable comeback.

“He was a weight lifter,” Glenn Eagle said. “That really helped him. He was healthy, he’s young and he has a fight. He’s not going to give up.”

Now, the sophomore — who was carrying a 3.83 average, majoring in industrial design — looks forward to returning to East Carolina in the fall.

“Our support base is awesome,” Glenn Eagle said. “That’s what is going to get him through. When you’re in a trauma unit, you see a lot of tragedy. We saw a 17-year-old who fell off the tailgate of a truck. He died. You bond with those parents.”

If Mark was ready to talk, “I believe that the thing that would come from Mark would be that we appreciate all the support and the circle of friends. His friends have meant a lot to him during this time.”