By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
ROCKWELL — Waiting in the Intensive Care Unit, Audrey Chewey is relying on family and prayers.
Her husband of four years, Robert “Andy” Chewey remains in critical condition at Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast after a head-on collision on Old Beatty Ford Road Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ve been praying together. We’ve been in close contact with each other,” Audrey Chewey said of her family. “There are several of us here all the time.”
She spoke to her husband at 4:47 p.m. Tuesday as he headed home to Richfield. Emergency crews were dispatched at 5:06 p.m.
Traveling west on Old Beatty Ford Road, a Jeep carrying 18-year-old Kevin Lambert and 17-year-old Josie Miller crossed the center line as it topped a small hill and collided with Chewey’s Nissan Altima.
Lambert, who was driving, was ejected. He was not wearing a seat belt, authorities said.
Lambert was initially listed in critical condition. Miller was treated for non-life threatening injuries. A hospital spokeswoman said the two were not listed in the hospital’s registry Wednesday.
Through the night, Chewey’s family members and friends gathered at the hospital.
After six hours of emergency surgery, he was moved to the ICU, his wife said, but he’s not out of the woods.
“It’s bad,” Audrey Chewey said. “It’s really bad.”
Chewey had a punctured lung, a ruptured spleen, a broken leg, several broken ribs and other internal injuries, she said. Despite medication, the pain causes him to wake up about every two hours.
“He’s still waking up in pain,” she said.
Hospital officials plan to keep him heavily sedated throughout the week.
The ICU does not allow children under 12 into patients’ rooms, Chewey said.
Their two children, 6 and 9 years old, haven’t seen their father since the crash. While she waits at the hospital, her mother has kept them.
“They won’t let them in to see him,” she said.
Hospital officials have told her it’s going to be a long process, Chewey said. But she’s holding onto family and faith for the future.
“We’re just all here for each other,” she said. “It’s going to be a while before he’s even out of intensive care.”