Face to Face with Death

On a warm sunny day in May, a man with black spiky hair is hiking towards his dark
green pickup truck. He looks ready to conquer the day. He has a big smile on his face. His face
is wide awake from the cold water that he had splashed on it when he just woke up. Because of
this, he is ready to start his day off right with the iced coffee in his hand. But just to find out later
that he will be close to death.
As he was driving to work 26 year old Isaac Martinez got into a terrible car accident. This
had happened in 2006 and his dark green pickup truck that he loved dearly was now in a ditch
with him.
I was on my way to work, in the left lane on highway 75 going north just above
Mckinney and I was passing an 18-wheeler semi in the right lane and as I was about halfway
passing through, he did not look in time and came over into my lane and pushed my bobtail off
the road, Issac Martinez said.
The 18-wheeler pushed him off the road to where he landed not only into one ditch but
into two ditches and almost had caused another wreck to be made.
I had hit a ditch, but because I was going so fast I actually jumped through that ditch
over the two lanes on the other side of the highway and landed on the other side of the highway
in another ditch, Martinez said.
His wife Christin Martinez had actually been at a friends house having a play date with
her daughters, when this whole situation took place.
When the accident happened I was at a friends house having a play date with my
youngest daughter, Mrs. Martinez said.
As he landed in the second ditch and fog filling up his cab and barely being able to see
he barely made it out safe, just before it caught on fire. Remembering everything very vividly he
safely got out.

The truck was on its side so I had to climb out while smoke was filling up my cab
because my engine had caught on fire, but it was such a big blur, Martinez said. I remember a
lot of people got out of their cars off the highway and started helping me and my co-worker out
of the truck and by the time I got out which was maybe 30 seconds after we stopped moving
there was probably about 15 people already helping us out. I had 2 people with fire
extinguishers trying to get the fire out in the engine which I am extremely grateful for.
When she received the call that her husband had been in a car accident and in a ditch
she was in shock and shaken up. After she got that call she immediately went to the hospital.
The ambulance and fire department had told her that they were going to a fatality accident
which is when the person in the accident has already died.
I had gotten a call from one of the police officers telling me that my husband had been
in a bad accident, Mrs. Martinez said. The police officer told me to head straight to the hospital
because they were taking him there, but when the officer told me he was in a accident he
couldn't really give me any details as far as how injured he was, but when I got to the hospital
the fire department and ambulance met me outside of his room and told me that they were
going to a fatality accident.
Surprisingly, not breaking any bones he was shocked of the outcome injury wise.
Although he did hurt his back really bad to where he couldnt walk for a couple of months that is
the only major injury he had.
I did not break any bones in my body, but I did have a pretty bad secondary ankle
sprain but the one that hurt the most was my back, Martinez said. My back had gotten hurt so
bad that it took a couple months for me to actually walk up right, because I was in so much
pain.
Although seeing her husband in so much pain with bruises and scrapes everywhere
shes very thankful for him to still be alive, and for them to only stay in the hospital overnight.
We had to stay in the hospital overnight and I am just so thankful that he is still alive,
Mrs. Martinez said.
Even though the only thing that actually hurt him permanently was his back, he ended up
having surgery on his back eventually to repair a few things.
I did have to get surgery on my back eventually, but I dont know if its because of the
result of the accident because surgery came about 4 years later, Martinez said. I know my
back was never the same after that day, it might have been part of the responsibility of the
accident, but I did ended up having surgery on my lower back to repair the bulging discs that
were hitting a nerve on each side of my spine.
Martinez will never forget the day of the accident and the one thing that he tells everyone
is to stay safe on the road and to always wear your seatbelts.
Wear your seatbelts, I know that sounds silly but it literally saved my life that day and
one thing I didnt mention was that my hip was bruised from being tossed around up, down, left
and right which let me know how badly tossed around I was, Martinez said. When the truck
landed on the side it kept my in my seat and if I wasnt wearing my seatbelt I couldve easily
been ejected out of my truck as it was falling over and I would have been under the my truck. I
am just so thankful to be alive today.