A woman texted her husband ‘taking off, I love you’ before a plane crash that left her with such a severe brain injury, doctors have said she’d be in a vegetative state for the rest of her life.
Lauren Chase had been on her way to visit relatives with her in-laws on Christmas Eve 2015 when the plane developed a fault and crash landed in a front garden.
Mrs Chase, 32, was being flown by her father-in-law – an experienced pilot who has been flying for more than 30 years – when the cowling which covers the engine popped open and the plane ‘fell out of the sky’. No one else was seriously hurt in the accident.
Now her husband David, 31, has spoken for the first time about the tragic incident.
Mrs Chase from Mississippi was travelling to Key Largo, Florida to visit relatives with her husband’s family in the plane piloted by Dr David Chase, 63.
Shortly after take-off Dr Chase realized the cowling had popped open. As he turned back to land at Roscoe Turner Airport in Mississippi, the cowling came unhinged and the plane crashed.
Her trader husband was working in Chicago at the time.
Mr Chase said: ‘I received a text message from Lauren about fifteen minutes before they were due to take off.
‘She wrote, ‘Taking off, I love you.”
Thirty minutes later, his younger sister Lydia – who had also been on board – called to say there had been an accident and Mrs Chase had been badly hurt. No one else on board was seriously injured.
She was taken to a hospital in Memphis where doctors discovered she had a subdural hematoma – blood collecting on the brain. In a bid to relieve the pressure, surgeons removed part of her skull.
When Mr Chase arrived, doctors told him his wife’s condition was severe and it was likely she would be in a vegetative state for the rest of her life. They predicted she would be unable to walk or talk again.
He said: ‘I was devastated. I didn’t realize until I got to the hospital how bad her condition would be.
‘We’ve been together for 12 years and I knew the moment I met her that she was the woman I was going to marry so it was really hard news to take.’
Despite the poor prognosis, Mrs Chase, who worked for Hilton Worldwide, repeatedly showed signs of improvement. Her husband described her as a fighter, citing the fact that she recovered in just two weeks after donating a kidney to her twin sister Lesley just three months before the crash.
He said: ‘Lauren’s brain injury meant she had an 80 per cent mortality rate.
‘Her heart has stopped twice and she’s had acute respiratory distress syndrome, which meant she had a mortality rate of 90 per cent – but she beat that too.’
In the past seven months, Mrs Chase has been near death five times but has fought against doctors’ dire expectations every time.
She became responsive and was able to make small hand movements, blink, give thumbs up and answer questions about her discomfort and well-being.
Mr Chase describes the first time she communicated with him since the accident on March 3 as ‘very emotional.’
He said: ‘Before that we were under the impression that she was in a vegetative state.
‘It was a big relief for her as well as for us because her mind is still there and healthy, but she can’t vocalize it because she’s trapped in her body.’
But over the past month, her health has deteriorated further and her family are now ‘praying for a miracle’.
Her heartbroken husband, who has set up a permanent vigil at Mrs Chase’s bedside where he reads to her and talks to her and holds her hand, said: ‘We don’t want to put her through anything else so we’ve decided to quit intervening with medication and surgery and leave it in God’s hands.
‘All the family are around her and we’re praying for a miracle.
‘We’ve seen her be a really strong fighter time and time again but we can’t see her suffer anymore.
‘It’s not a decision I would wish on my worst enemy.’
Mrs Chase has been moved to five different hospitals and rehabilitation centers between Mississippi and Georgia over the past seven months. On Thursday night she will be moved from Memorial Hermann Houston to a hospice.
Friends have been fundraising to help with the costs of Mrs Chase’s ongoing care, setting up a YouCaring page for her.Dailymail
