Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Retired Lt. Alan Bain and his family are healing after a terrifying moment involving his daughter in July.

Following a July 25 car accident involving his 11-year-old daughter Myleigh, his wife Keri, and another passenger, Bain’s daughter is home recovering from injuries after being discharged from Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk. Bain, now retired from Suffolk Fire and Rescue, had a chance to talk about his daughter’s current status, noting that they still have “a long road to recovery.”

“She has a walker, wheelchair and a recliner, and that’s pretty much her life,” Bain says. “She’s still not able to leave the living room as far as movement, but she’s able to stand with assistance and if we put her in the wheelchair, then we can take her wherever we need to,” Bain said. “But she’s got doctor’s appointments…it’s still a long, long road because of course, she’s only 11, but she’s very strong.”

The wreck occurred on July 25, while Myleigh, her mother, and another passenger were driving along Route 58 on a day of heavy rains and flash flood advisories. 

“And that was the day of the heavy rains and flash floods and everything. They were going down 58 and right before the six lanes hit some flooding, they began to spin out,” he said. “My wife got control back, then spun completely out again, striking a tree on my daughter’s side of the Tahoe.”

While his daughter was stuck in the vehicle, Bain says that his team members at Suffolk Fire and Rescue were able to rescue her, calling them “the best.” Bain notes his wife and the passenger had minor injuries. He described the injuries that his daughter suffered after being examined by Paramedic Lt. Waylon Drake.

“He noted that she had [a] broken femur, broken humerus and he was splitting those and he was getting ready to take her to CHKD. By that time, I was able to get on scene. I spoke with him, spoke with my daughter, kissed her on the forehead, checked everything [and] we went to CHKD,” Bain said. “Once at [CHKD], they found out that she had three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, lacerations to her spleen, liver and kidneys, and confirmed the broken femur and the broken humerus.”

Various surgeries were scheduled, with a chest tube being inserted to reinflate Myleigh’s lung and her first surgery being done for her femur. She was moved to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit), where the family stayed for four days for labs, CT scans and more. Doctors tried to remove the chest tube, but her lung recollapsed and decided to leave it in. Following moving to the Neuro Unit, doctors tried again to remove the chest tube, only for it to collapse again. Bain says that to be where they are now, his daughter needed to stand and go up three stairs. 

“It wasn’t moving very quickly. We were having prayer ring circles, stuff like that. We had Chaplain Josh Baker from Suffolk Fire Department come out and we did a prayer service there at CHKD,” he reflected.

Bain says the following day, Saturday, his daughter was able to stand and go up and down the steps twice and was soon discharged from the hospital. Bain spoke positively about the staff of CHKD, calling the nurses “top-notch.”

“…Because they would come in and they would play with her and joke with her and stuff like that, because, at CHKD, she was in locked units. So we could only have family come see her, really,” Bain said.

Now at home, Bain says he and his wife have not left their daughter’s side since the accident, being over two weeks since. 

“…she has her best friend who actually lives here with her and she has her dog that is like her, I don’t know, mental relief dog, I guess,” he said. “And then just her family. I mean, we just try to stay close to her. She has two older brothers, me and my wife, and we try to play games with her.”

Bain also notes that Myleigh is very aware of the supportive comments he shares with her on his Facebook page.

“When I do an update or anything on Facebook, I’ll show her the comments and I’ll show her if there’s anything new on the GoFundMe [page] and stuff like that. She actually made the comment that she didn’t know ‘that many people cared,’ and that helps,” he says. “So that’s why I continue to do the updates and sharing the GoFundMe and stuff like that because it actually made her feel like people care.”

Reflecting on the accident around the same time as his retirement from serving Suffolk Fire and Rescue, Bain says the moment “took him back.”

“Honestly, I looked at the possibility that I would have lost my family at the same time of deciding to move away from my career. So it was like the possibility of losing everything in my life all at once,” Bain said. “So it was definitely something that made the first few days real hard, because I was concerned for my daughter, concerned for the transition, concerned for everything. After 26 years of helping people, to feel helpless, it was different.”

On how residents can support, Bain emphasized keeping the prayers coming in for him and his family.

“Keep praying. Keep making comments on the Facebook posts, share them…,” Bain said. “Share the stuff so that she can see everything and share the GoFundMe, and hopefully that’ll help.”

To contribute to the GoFundMe, visti gofund.me/7c339ccf.