THE PLANE CRASH - Betsy's perspective.

So I'm just gonna try to remember everything that happened starting with Friday morning. So we went to Shad and Jazlyn's house and Brooklyn was gonna go on a date and so we were just there with the kids and Shad and Gentry were talking about going boating and I knew Jazlyn seemed a little stressed. She had a lot of work going on. So I said, let's stay home and work and let the kids just hang out. And then she's like, no. And then Shad said, it's beautiful. It's perfect weather right now to go fly over the Uintas and it's just so pretty. Let's go see that. So Gentry was obviously super nervous and I remember like as we were coming in from the backyard, we were all outside talking and Gentry just kept hugging me. He, I don't know why, but he just like, it's like he needed to hug me that day. And Jazlyn even commented. She said, geez, you need to get a room or something just teasing Gentry. But he just really wanted to hug me. And well, we're here. Do we see how small that is? Those little wheels could pop easily. Shad, Shad, Shad, do you promise to take care of us? I promise. So then we were talking and we decided, all right, should we go on the plane ride? And kind of jokingly, I posted on Instagram. I just said, should we go on a plane ride with Shad? Yes or no? And everyone voted yes or like 79% voted yes. And so I made more stories about it. And I was like kind of joking on the story saying, well, apparently 79% of you don't care about my life. 79% of you apparently don't care about me or my life or Gentry and you sided with these yachts. You guys are awesome. I knew you'd pull through. Yep. All in fun and Gentry was nervous, but he wasn't fighting going. Like we were all excited to go. He recorded some videos. And since then I've watched some of the clips and it was fun to see him just talk because he makes me laugh. But Alyssa texted us or texted Gentry and said, you guys better go on the plane. She really wanted to see, she wanted us to do it. And so we got on the plane and I wasn't nervous. I was very calm. And I mean, I was like excited, like kind of that nervous, but not like I wasn't scared, if that makes sense. And I, every time I fly out, I'll text my sister or somebody and just say, you have my kids or whatever it is, you know, cause I do get nervous anytime I fly. I just, and so I texted Alyssa my, all of my password information and the safe login because that's holds all of our will and trust stuff. And she's like, mom, I promise you're going to be fine. Stop worrying and just go have fun. So then we took off and we did, I actually recorded some stories up there. Gentry was recording the whole flight. It was beautiful. It was really fun. There was a couple of little pockets where we like, we did that. And I remember grabbing Jaslyn's leg and she just made fun of it. Like we were all, it was just fun. And so then we came over the mountains and we were coming by up to Moon Lake and Shad wanted to take us a little bit lower so we could go slower and see things. We hit a pocket of air. And so he went to give it some more power and we'd lost power. And so Shad said, I've lost power. We're going to have to land. And Jaslyn hits him from the back seat. And she's like, Shad, stop teasing. He's like, I promise you, I'm not teasing. We have to land. And so I remember there was, I was 100% calm. There was no, I wasn't nervous. I wasn't, I just felt like we were landing. Like my body, normally if you hit me, I scream. But this time I just grabbed the seat and I just held on and closed my eyes. And I remember Jaslyn next to me, she bowed her head and she said, Heavenly Father, please send help. Send my grandpa. Boston started saying a prayer but I couldn't understand what he was, or I couldn't hear what he was saying. And then I didn't remember what Gentry or Shad was saying but after watching the video of the recording, Gentry was turning back and saying, everything's gonna be okay, be good. And Shad was saying, relax, relax. And so we had, from that little point, it was about 12 seconds. And I remember it felt, when we hit, it felt just like a harder version of a normal land. So when you, when you land on a normal airplane, you hit, but then you kind of, it softens out. And that didn't happen. And it just kind of gave you that, you know. But other than that, I felt okay. And that's what I remember, at least. And I remember trying to figure out how to get out of the door. And somehow the door was open. And Shad said that the door's automatically open. So I go running out and I could tell that Gentry needed help. And I don't know how, but I ran around to his side because I could tell the boys were in back. They were trying to get to me. In fact, Brock handed me Gentry's phone. He dialed 911 and said, mom, it's not calling. So I looked and no service. So I gave the phone back to him. And then I just ran to go get Gentry. And as I went to go get Gentry, I could see people just running towards us, like sprinting towards us. And I could see Gentry and he was upside down, laying outside of the airplane. His eyes were open, his mouth was open. And it looked like in a movie when a person dies. And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, he didn't make it. And I started trying to find a pulse and I couldn't find a pulse. I couldn't see him breathing. And I just knew that he was, well, the thought that went through my mind, I screamed, I said, I think we have someone dead to the people that were running. I wanted him to get there faster. And I remember for some reason, the Nutty Putty Cave movie, and they said that he died because he was upside down. And so when I, all I wanted to do was I wanted to lift him up so that he could breathe. So I started getting under and scooping him up. And I just wanted to hold him. I didn't know if he was alive. I didn't know if he was going, I just held him. And all of a sudden he started like gurgling and I'm like, Gentry, breathe, Gentry, breathe. You need to breathe. And he was just moaning and gurgling. And at that point I could see that I couldn't get him out. His legs were stuck inside the plane. And so the guy had made it to me at this point. And I said, I need help holding him. I need you to help me hold him. He's like, I can't get in there. There's only room for one person. So I kind of handed Gentry off to him. And then I went running around to the other side of the plane. And I didn't have shoes on. My shoes, I don't, they fell off at some point. But I needed to hurry in because I was worried about the plane starting on fire. I could hear people saying that there could be a fire to go get water. I could hear so much commotion. And then Shad was still in the seat next to Gentry. And I couldn't reach over Shad and get to Gentry without interfering with Shad. And so I started yelling, we need to get Shad out. Shad was saying he couldn't feel his legs. Shad had turned to Gentry and said, I'm so sorry, bud. I'm so sorry. I love you so much. I'm so, so sorry. And I don't even remember responding to Shad. I can't remember any of that. But I remember running over to the other side and saying, we need to get Shad out. We've got to get Shad out. Shad couldn't feel his legs. So he needed help getting out. And then I'm like, then we can get Gentry out. And my concern was I just needed everyone out of the plane. I didn't want any fires to start. I was very concerned about that. And so then so many people came from all these directions and actually, I need to back up. Well, no, I'll keep going. But since the accident, someone reached out to Jasmine's mom and said, when I saw that plane come in, it looked like angels were carrying it in. And I genuinely feel that that's what happened with us. There's no explanation for the calmness in the airplane. There's no explanation. None of us are calm people. We are the type that would be screaming and hysterical. There was just such a peaceful calmness. The way we came down is still just unbelievable. There's been so many accidents. And they were the only people that have lived and they don't know why. So as we're Gentry's laying on the ground, I start screaming because I couldn't find Brock in Boston anymore. And one of the guys said, we told them to stay over there. I think they didn't want Brock in Boston to see Gentry in the condition he was in. He was bleeding out of his eyes, his head, his cheeks, his ears, like we couldn't tell where blood was coming from and where it wasn't coming from. His legs looked like candy canes. They were just curved and broken in so many places. And I remember the EMT guy coming over and he said, this is going to hurt, but I've got to do something. And he pulled his legs out. I can't remember which legs he pulled. I can't remember exactly what he did. I just remember him saying, this is going to hurt. And Gentry just kept saying, like, he was just moaning in. So then I told, I kept, oh, he kept asking Gentry questions. And he said, I'm going to give you the number eight and I need you to remember the number eight. And then he'd leave. And then he'd come back a minute later and say, what number did I give you? And Gentry's like, like he couldn't, he didn't know. And then they said, who's the president? And he said, Trump. And then they asked him another question. And he's like, and then they asked him what his favorite basketball team was. And he didn't, he couldn't give him his favorite basketball team. And then again, they asked who the president was. And I'm laughing because Gentry said Trump. It's like the only thing he knew at that point was Trump was president. But so then as we waited, somebody had gone down to the lodge to call 911 as the other people were running towards us. A woman came up to me and asked who she could call. And I said, I need you to call Alyssa and tell Alyssa to call Brooklyn. And then I tried texting Caitlin, but obviously my phone wouldn't send a text. And then she was the one, so Alyssa was aware of what was going on. And then we, then the ambulances ended up coming first. So the ambulances got there before lifelight and they started doing Gentry's blood pressure. We checked his, we kept checking his pulse with his Apple Watch. The Apple Watch actually came in really handy. We could check that. We saw that his pulse was going up and his blood pressure was going down. The EMT said he was the first one that needed to, he needed the most help. And so we saved the lifelight for Gentry. Shad and Jasmine went in one ambulance. Brock and Boston went in one ambulance. And then I went in the last ambulance alone. I was running around so much and I think it was just, I was confused. I would just, I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay, that I had several people ask if I was, that they didn't know that I was in the plane crash. And so they were all surprised because I felt like I was doing okay. The only thing was is like, if you put your hands like this, you can't see down. And that's how my vision was. And I just kept turning to Mike. I said, I can't see, I can't see my phone. Can you help me? I can't find my shoes. And apparently I was like right next to my shoes and they're like, they're right by your feet. Just put them on. I'm like, I can't see my shoes. Can you please help me? So my vision was going. I didn't notice not being able to breathe very well or my ribs. I didn't notice any of that. I was just getting a headache and I couldn't see. It was all I can remember as far as like what I was feeling. Then they came and took Gentry away in the lifelight. And I don't remember what I did after that. I just remember people clearing out and they put me in an ambulance. And as I was driving in the ambulance, they stopped. And Jazlyn's dad had stopped the ambulance and told them that he knew who was in the ambulance. And they said, this man out here thinks he knows you. Can I open the door? I said, yes. And I opened the door, they opened the door and I just reached out for his hand and I held onto his hand for probably 20 seconds. And I just said, I'm so scared. I'm so scared. Help me. And he's like, everything's gonna be okay. And just his hand, like there's something about human touch or something of somebody you know. And that just helped so much for the ride home. My phone didn't work the whole way. And so the nurse that was in the ambulance with me, she called everyone for me and put it on speaker. So I called Alyssa several times to ask several questions. I called Angie, because we had a work thing after and I wanted to make sure she knew that I wasn't gonna be there. She just stressed about everything. I called my sister, Jennifer, because I wanted to ask Nate to check on Gentry and look at his x-rays. I knew that there were broken bones and Nate's a radiologist. I just, it was, at that time it made sense in my head. And then we got to the hospital and they had told me that Gentry was gonna be either at the U of U or IMC. So Alyssa was with Becky and Greg, Dallin's parents, and they drove her to IMC and found out he wasn't there. And then they looked on Find Friends and it showed that Gentry was at Utah Valley Hospital. So they started driving there and I called Alyssa and I said, no, they told me he's gonna either be at the U or at IMC. He's not gonna be at Utah Valley. And they're like, no, he's there. And so when I actually called Greg and Angie, Greg said, no, I'm looking at him on Find Friends and he's definitely at Utah Valley. So we knew he was there. Alyssa got to the hospital and told the chaplain there that she wanted Gentry to have a blessing. And actually before Life Flight came and picked Gentry up, Brock and Boston were screaming for someone who had the priesthood. They were asking for people to pray with them and for someone who had the priesthood. And a man came over and gave Gentry a blessing. And in that blessing, he said he would have a full recovery. And so I've held onto that since that blessing. That was kind of something for me that I needed to hear. Gentry didn't remember it. And then when he got to the hospital, Alyssa asked the chaplain and she's very calm. I've had so many people tell me how calm and collected Alyssa was. And she just said, I want my dad to have a blessing. And so yesterday I actually talked with the chaplain and he said, he goes, I've been wanting to find out how your daughter was and I wanted to talk to her. He said, because I wanted to tell you the words that were in that blessing. And it was that there were angels with us in that room and there were also angels that were going to be in the surgery with Gentry to helping the doctors perform the surgery. And all of Gentry's surgeries went perfectly. They all were perfect. He had the best surgeons. I had so many people send messages of all the surgeons he should use. And those are the surgeons he got, whether I chose them or not, I didn't choose anybody. I mean, it was just, he went in surgery after surgery. He ended up breaking his tibia, fibula, shattering his ankle. He broke his femur on his right side. His pelvis was 50% up into his spine. He broke his back. He broke, there was something up higher that he broke, but it was stable. And so they wanted just to put the collar on him. He broke several places in his face and they were able to repair that. He lost his front teeth and some were broken. So I don't know to the extent of what his teeth are gonna be. His nose, they did surgery. So he got a nose job, his whole face redone. They had the orbital, the ground, the orbital bone or something, but they didn't do that because there was so much blood. And they said, a lot of times, if you try to fix it, then it can cause eye vision damage. And they still don't know to the extent of his vision damage or if there is any or what it is. And then he's just, then they had him intubated and they had him intubated until yesterday. I was able to go up and see Gentry and he's so drugged. He was confused. He didn't know if he was paralyzed. He said, am I paralyzed? I said, no, you're not. He asked how the kids were. He didn't know if they were hurt. And I said, no, everyone's healthy. We're all fine. And about two weeks before the accident, Gentry had just said to me, I'd gone on a retreat and come back, and he said, I don't like when you're gone. I just get so much anxiety. And he said, I just feel like I'm gonna die or something's gonna happen. And I kind of teased him a little bit. I'm like, Gentry, you just feel like that every time you get anxiety. You're not gonna die, you're fine. And he just said, he's like, when you're not with me, it just feels like I just have so much anxiety. And that was another reason why I wanted to get to him because of this conversation the two weeks before. But that was also why I wanted to go visit Shad because when Shad's with Gentry, Gentry doesn't have anxiety. He just seems so much lighter and happier. And so anyway, I just had that conversation. And so when I went up to his room, I said, Gentry, do you remember that you were worried about dying? And he said, yes. And I said, you're not gonna die. I said, we have a story that, and I said, you have an incredible story that you need to tell. And he said, what's the story? And I said, you survived a plane crash. And he's like, I did. And I said, yeah, you have an amazing story. And he's like, okay. And then the nurse came in and he told me that that nurse was the most compassionate nurse he's ever met. And he said, he's taught me so many things. And I said, what did he teach you? He goes, he taught me how to breathe. And I kind of started to laugh because I'm like, well, I'm pretty sure you knew how to breathe, but that was nice that he maybe helped you relearn how to breathe or something. And he just said, he kept taking such good care of me. And he said, make sure to give him a good review. And I said, I'll make sure to get him something from you. As the chaplain was taking me up to Gentry's room, I just told him about how many people had wanted to hear the story and how many people had messaged me. And I just said, I just feel like there's a story that we all need to tell. And he just, hearing the story about how the plane landed and people felt that there were angels carrying us down. And when his blessing, he said, there were angels with Gentry. There were just so many miracles that happened down to where the plane landed. If it landed on the beach, we would have flipped on the sand or if we would have not 45 seconds earlier, no one could have gotten to us. Gentry was bleeding internally. And so, I mean, he's had to have 10 blood transfusions. And had he been there for any longer, he would have bled to death. If he, we had EMTs, like why were EMTs right there, right where we were? The ambulances, the reason why the ambulances got there faster than life flight is because they were actually up in that area already. And so it was faster for them to get to us. I just felt like there were so many miracles that I didn't wanna forget anything. And I wanted to say it in this video. And I'm sure as the day goes on, I'll remember that I didn't say something, but as of right now, I feel like those are the main points that stick out in my head. With Shad, he landed the plane and cut the engine so there was no fire. Gentry was stuck. If there were a fire, we wouldn't have gotten him out. If there was the EMTs, I couldn't carry Gentry out myself. I needed help. He was too heavy for me. And there were just miracle after miracle. And something that I just can't deny. And it's the hardest thing that I've ever had to go through. But I think if you don't have hard things, you also don't have the miracles. And so a miracle wouldn't be a miracle if there wasn't anything devastating on the other side of it. I just feel so lucky. There have been so many plane crashes in Utah. I think they said there were seven. And for some reason, all six of us lived. Just so many things that I know happened for a reason. Shad's mom this morning sent me a little tidbit of Shad's patriarchal blessing. And it just said, Shad will perform miracles. And that hit me today. Like, it is so amazing. So many things that have happened. It's just unbelievable. And I feel genuinely lucky. I'm very sad. I miss Gentry. I wanna go see him. But I know he's on the mend, and that gives me some peace. Seeing him yesterday was the biggest part of my healing. I needed to know that he knew I wanted to be with him, but that the rules weren't letting us be together. But I wanted to tell him the story. No, I didn't tell him all of the story. I just told him that we were in a plane crash, and he's a miracle. But it was just a good thing for me to be able to see him. I needed that so much.