Shockey back home after December accident

Jan. 19--WAYNESBORO -- Brian Shockey doesn't remember much about the evening of Dec. 27, 2018, but maybe that's for the best.

It began as just another day on the job for Shockey, who drives a tow truck for Dave Shockey's Auto Body in Washington Township.

Sometime between 7 and 8 p.m., he was called to help out a stranded driver along Interstate 81 in Antrim Township.

He arrived on the scene just north of exit 3 near the Mason Dixon Auto Auction and pulled his Ford rollback along the right shoulder.

It had been raining off and on all day and was a dark night.

Loading a tow can be risky, especially along a busy interstate. Sometimes, you have to crawl under vehicles as cars go whizzing by a few feet away. Fortunately, his truck has plenty of lights to alert other motorists to an emergency situation.

This evening, the vehicle loaded easily and Shockey went to climb back into his truck and in that quick second, his life changed.

His body was struck by a passing vehicle. The force of the impact threw Shockey into the travel lane.

"I don't remember a lot, but I remember trying to get off the road by myself," Shockey recalled. "I was trying to get up and get off the interstate and not being able to. I thought, 'This is it. I am dead,'" he recalled.

Fortunately, the stranded driver remained on the scene and was attempting to get into the tow truck from the passenger side and realized what happened. He ran around the truck and pulled Shockey off the interstate.

Shockey doesn't remember being hit or being pulled off the roadway. He was probably in and out of consciousness. "I remember being in the back of the ambulance," he said.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up in York Hospital, where he was flown after the crash. There are a few details of the night he remembers, but most of the evening is a blank. "The next day, I remember just being thankful I am alive," he said.

Suddenly a statistic

Shockey, 37, spent two weeks in York Hospital. He has multiple broken leg and ankle bones on both legs; five broken toes; a fractured knee; broken wrist and elbow; broken ribs; facial fractures; and multiple bruises and abrasions. He's had four surgeries and could have more. "It will be three months before I can put any weight on my feet," said Shockey, who recently returned home where he occupies a hospital bed set up in his living room. "They said it will be the better part of a year until I will be fully functional."

Shockey's wife, Jenn, who has taken time away from her job at the auto body shop to help care for her husband, said the accident certainly isn't something the couple was prepared for, but being in his line of work, it also wasn't totally beyond possibility.

"We know the risks and the statistics, unfortunately," she said. "It's always a concern."

"I often worried about working on the interstate. I've had a good many close calls. There's always risks, especially when you're laying down changing a tire or hooking up a vehicle, but never in my life did I imagine I'd get hit when I was getting back in my truck," Shockey said.

Moving forward

"It's tough. There's a lot of people counting on me," Shockey said.

The Shockeys celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary in the hospital. "It definitely was the most expensive anniversary," Jenn quipped. "It was a whole other level of appreciation."

The couple has two children, an 11-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter. "They've done really well," Jenn said.

When the kids get home from school, they are happy to see their dad and, sometimes, a family video game breaks out before homework begins and Shockey returns to catnapping.

"Everything takes so much out of him," Jenn said.

"Right now, I can't really do anything," Shockey admitted. "I can get in a wheelchair."

Even that task is monumental. "It's amazing how little things like that take so much out of you. It really kicks your ass," he said.

It's a change of life for Shockey, who is president of the Quincy Panthers and was training for what would've been his 10th and 11th Tough Mudders.

"It feels like everything's falling apart," Shockey said, looking at the heavy plastic medical boots protecting his feet and lower leg and five inches of gauze covering a knee wound. "I can't see any muscle definition anymore."

The Shockeys don't know how long it will be before he is back on his feet again. "It's still so new and the injuries are acute. It's a waiting game," Jenn said.

Shockey knows he faces months of physical therapy.

"It's crazy, looking back, how much you take for granted," he said.

A family friend started a GoFundMe page.

"People want to help, but they don't know what to do," Shockey explained.

The couple has insurance and aren't asking for anything. "We're the helpers, we're not the people who usually accept help," Jenn said.

Friends showed up before he was discharged from the hospital and built a ramp so Shockey and his wheelchair can get in and out of the house.

Others have prepared meals for the family. "Friends and family have been taking care of us," Jenn said. "The outpouring has been amazing."

Even people the couple doesn't know reached out through social media, where Shockey started posting updates because so many people were concerned. "My intent was just to let everybody know I was OK and alive. Next thing I knew, my posts had over 170,000 views. I find it unbelievable," he said. "You don't know how many people care about you until something like this happens."

"We'd like to thank everybody for the outreach of support and well-wishes," Jenn said.

Shockey said he's not sure what lies on the road ahead.

He doesn't know if he will climb back into a tow truck. He's not sure his dad, who started the business, will let him back into a truck. "It's been my life for 20 years, he said. "I did 90 percent of the towing. What else am I gonna do?"

Contact Andrea Rose at arose@therecordherald.com or 717-762-2151.

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