On the mend and extremely thankful

John Edwards is recovering from his near-tragic Oct. 4 car accident south of Amiret. Edwards has been told if not for the quick response of Tracy emergency personnel, he would likely be paralyzed today. Edwards wasn’t alone during his accident — Jojo, Diane Fiegen’s American Cocker Spaniel, kept him company until help arrived. Photo / Per Peterson

Few people have more to be thankful for this holiday season than John Edwards.

Edwards is on the mend after being involved in a serious one-vehicle accident on Oct. 4, just a couple miles from his rural Garvin home.

And if not for the efforts of well-trained emergency personnel who arrived quickly on the scene at Lyon County Road 9 south of Amiret, the hard-working farmer and co-owner of The Caboose would be in very bad shape.

“Everyone that helped out — I don’t even know who all was there — from all the people at the accident scene, the people in the ambulance, at the hospital … they kept me immobile; if one person would’ve had me sat up, I would’ve been paralyzed,” he said in a recent interview. “It would’ve snapped my spinal cord. What do you say to them all?”

Edwards was heading home when the accident happened. He said he remembers seeing a deer and choosing to swerve to miss it.

“I’ve always told my kids to ‘hit the damn deer’ if they see one and not swerve; I’ve hit them before,” Edwards said. “I thought I could miss him; well, there was more than one.”