Father returns to Akron to discuss book about Ohio Turnpike crash in Streetsboro that claimed the life of his wife and left son in a wheelchair

A single phone call shattered life as Ed Slattery once knew it.

The call was from Akron Children's Hospital telling him that his wife had been in a serious car crash on the Ohio Turnpike and their two boys were in grave condition at the hospital and he needed to leave his government job in Washington, D.C., and come to Akron right away.

Little did he know at the time, but his wife Susan had already died from injuries when her car was struck by a triple tractor-trailer at mile marker 190.5 in Streetsboro.

Ed said he had no inkling anything was amiss before the call as he was eagerly awaiting the return of his family home to Baltimore that night from a trip to a family reunion in Rocky River.

They say time heals all wounds, but Ed would disagree.

Some 10 years have passed since the crash but the hole remains in his heart from the loss of his wife who grew up in Northeast Ohio.

His son Matthew, who was 12 at the time of the crash, is permanently disabled with a traumatic brain injury.

And Ed's still angry.

He says he struggles with the what-ifs.

What if she had left earlier that day or even started later for the trek back home.

What if he had gone on the trip and had been behind the wheel.

What if the driver, who was later sentenced to prison, had pulled off at a truck stop and taken a nap instead of driving nearly 24 hours straight on just three hours of sleep.

It is the latter that haunts him most.

Since the crash, Ed has become an outspoken proponent for stricter rules governing hours allowed on the road by truck drivers and has pushed for requirements that safety measures be mandated in trucks to ensure drivers stay alert and awake behind the wheel.

He points out that his personal car has safety features that alert him if he is drifting out a lane and even brakes if he doesn't. These same measures are not found in most trucks.

"This just makes no sense that these safety features are not on an 80,000-pound missile that is traveling down the road," Ed said.

Since Susan's death, Ed points out an estimated 40,000 Americans have died in crashes involving commercial vehicles.

"That's 12 a day, every day," he said. "Every day.

"Chew on that for a while."

If these same grim numbers, he asserts were true for the airline industry not a single plane would still be in air.

"Planes would all be grounded."

Ed's story to right a wrong and care for his now disabled son caught the attention of an investigative reporter at a Baltimore television station.

Brian Kuebler said Susan's death was big news there as she was a popular mathematics professor at Stevenson University in Baltimore.

The story continued as the community was moved by Ed's commitment to remain at the bedside of his sons: Peter, who was 16 at the time of the crash and suffered a broken pelvis, and Matthew who still requires constant care.

This constant vigil started in Akron where the boys remained for a month after the crash and continued in Baltimore where Matthew remained in a coma.

When he couldn't be there, family members and volunteers kept the vigil.

"I didn't want him to wake up alone," Ed said.

Kuebler said this same steadfast dedication channeled its way not only for the continued care of Matthew after he woke up from the coma but also to lobby in Washington to make America's roads safer and pressure the trucking industry to make changes.

"I think I would have just curled up in ball of anger," the reporter for an ABC affiliate said. "I would have been mad at the world."

Ed's story of dealing with trauma and tragedy, Kuebler said, led him to pen a recently released book about it called "The Long Blink: The True Story of Trauma, Forgiveness and One Man's Fight for Safer Roads."

The two will be in Akron at 1:30 p.m. Thursday on the ground level of the Kay Jewelers Pavilion at Akron Children's Hospital, 117 W. Exchange St., to discuss the book from Behler Publications and meet with those who cared for the boys after the crash. The event is free and open to the public.

Ed says it is bittersweet to return to Akron.

The memories of the crash and its immediate aftermath will forever be connected to Northeast Ohio but he is forever grateful for the love and support his family was provided by the doctors and nurses at Children's Hospital.

After the crash, the family established a fund at the hospital to help families in need of financial help for therapeutic sessions insurance won't cover or they simply cannot afford.

Ed said Matthew struggles every day but he is still living his life to the fullest.

One thing, Ed said, he marveled at during the boys' time at Akron Children's was the animal therapy programs offered, including bedside visits by of all things a miniature horse.

This has since come full circle, Ed said, as one of Matthew's greatest joys now are his visits to ride therapy horses.

While he needs a lot of assistance to make this possible, Ed said, Matthew insists that he wants to someday trot on a horse.

"We will get there by hook or by crook," he said. "It might take a special harness connected to the ceiling but he will get to trot."

Craig Webb can be reached at [email protected].

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