U.S. History teacher Ms. Kenna Cavnar pounds on the front door of her friend Ms. Marcia Lass’s house in a panic. When the door swings open, she greets sophomore Emily Lass with tears streaming down her face. Cavnar witnessed a car accident with Marcia Lass as the victim when a driver drove straight into her while they were walking.
The tragedy began when Ms. Cavnar called Ms. Lass the night before school started, on Aug. 21, looking to go on an evening walk.
“We’d been walking every day that summer, in the morning,” Ms. Cavnar said. “I don’t know why I decided to call her to go walking that night.”
As Ms. Cavnar and Ms. Lass walked down the road, Ms. Cavnar’s dog suddenly yanked her away from the trail, and out of the line of fire.
“[The driver] never slowed down, never stopped,” Ms. Cavnar said. “After, he was asking ‘did I hit a dog, or a deer. He no idea he’d hit a person.”
Ms. Lass’ injuries included four broken ribs, a broken scapula, a shattered collarbone, 26 fractures in one leg alone, and both legs were broken below the knee. The consequences come emotionally as well as physically.
“My insurance originally bought me a wheelchair, because they thought I would need it,” Ms. Lass said. “So after it had been sitting up against the wall in the bedroom, later it was amazing [to walk again].
Ms. Lass claims to have forgiven the driver immediately, in hopes he would learn from this experience and go on to better himself from it.
“I don’t think I could’ve heal with that kind of anger and hurt and just being upset with him,” Ms. Lass said. “I needed to forgive him so I could move forward and heal. Before I even knew who he was I forgave him.”
Ms. Lass also gives thanks to the Legacy staff as well as Dr. Butler for their unwitting support through the tragic incident and the struggle of recovery in her four months of absence.
“The Legacy staff is amazing- the Legacy family is amazing,” Ms. Lass said.
The credit of this support belongs partially to a new district-wide policy wherein the event of a catastrophic injury of an employee or a close family member of which, employees can donate paid vacation days. Ms. Lass was the first person in the district to utilize this policy, and got a full thirty paid days off she wouldn’t have originally received.
“[The staff] brought meals and gifts constantly, came regularly to rehab to visit me and sat with me when my family couldn’t be there,” Ms. Lass said. “They were my prayer warriors most importantly.”
There apparently were so many donors that the district had to stop allowing employees to donate full days and cut it down to half days.
“The love and support from the Legacy family has gotten me through this,” Ms. Lass said. “The miracle was that all these people wanted to give me their time off.”
Ms. Lass returned to work part time on Nov. 29 and continues attends physical therapy several times a week, but so far has had an extremely successful and lucky recovery.
“God is good, and I’m blessed to be alive,” Ms. Lass said.
Not only is her Legacy family glad to have her back at work, her real family is thankful she is OK as well.
“It’s definitely made me appreciate my mom more and realize everything she’s been doing for me these past years that I’ve been taking for granted,” Emily Lass said. “It was just very scary.”
