NEW CASTLE — Gary Miller lies in bed in his living room, eager for Thursday to come.

That is when casts will be removed from his forearms and he might even get to stand up.

The 41-year-old Union Township man is bedridden, and his wife, Karen, 40, hobbles with a broken leg in a brace taking care of him. Both suffered multiple broken bones Nov. 13 when their car was hit head-on by an alleged underage drunk driver on a Maryland highway.

Their medical bills are now mounting, and they have no health insurance. They don’t know if the driver who hit them has enough insurance to cover all their costs.

Gary, who drives at the Mercer Speedway, takes a vacation every year in Hagerstown, Md., to watch a dirt car race. Karen went with him this year. They were driving to their hotel on Route 40 around 2 a.m. after the race when Miller noticed headlights fast approaching in their lane.

“I told Karen, he’s coming right at us.” But the crash happened in seconds and he had no time to swerve. Karen was knocked out briefly, then awoke, screamed and dived across her husband through the driver’s side window.

“I remember hitting the ground and not being able to move,” she said sitting in their living room.

Gary was conscious for the hour it took rescuers to cut apart the car and extricate him.

“As soon as they got me loose I remember them cutting off my pants and putting me on a backboard. Then I was out.”



HOSPITALIZATION

The couple was taken by ambulance to Meredith Medical Center in Hagerstown. From there, Gary was flown to the shock trauma center of the University of Maryland in Baltimore. He was hospitalized for two weeks with a broken femur, two broken hips, his pelvis broken in six places, a broken back and two dislocated thumbs where ligaments were torn from the bones.

Three of his bottom teeth were broken off at the gum line and other teeth were chipped.

He was kept in a drug-induced coma for three days.

“I’ve got (permanent) screws, plates and rods in my hips and back,” he said. “My teeth need six implants and 10 crowns.”

Three bottom teeth were so damaged they have to be removed and repaired using cadaver bones.

“One has a bubble fracture and they have to take all of the front ones out to fix them,” he said. “I can’t chew. Karen cuts my food up for me, and I put it on a fork and stick it in the back of my mouth and chew with my back teeth.”

But it’s tough for him to even grasp a fork with his hands in casts.

Karen was hospitalized for a week in Hagerstown with a broken foot, ankle, ribs, nose and bone between her left knee and ankle. She suffered a concussion and glass was embedded in her head.

The other driver, 20-year-old Cory Horton of Clear Spring, Md., also suffered serious injuries and fought for his life in a trauma center. Maryland state police said last week that driving-under-the-influence-related charges are pending against him.

After her discharge, Karen went to Baltimore to be with her husband, who had three operations that lasted a total of 21 hours. He received more than 70 stitches on the outside of his body alone.

They rode from Maryland back home to 1807 Burns St. together by ambulance.



MOUNTING BILLS

Gary hasn’t even started rehabilitation yet.

“They told us to get a hospital bed and wheelchair to take him home, but he can’t rehab until his bones start to heal,” his wife said. “We’re at home and stuck here. On Jan. 5, he gets his casts off his hands and they will stand him up and start physical therapy that day.”

 Doctors told him to stay off of his feet and not put any weight on them for 14 weeks after the accident.

Meanwhile, the Millers are trying to figure out how they are going to afford their mounting medical bills.

Gary owns GM Roofing and Construction. Karen drives a bus for the Union school district where their daughter, Morgan, 15, is a sophomore.

The family can’t afford health insurance.

“Now Gary can’t work, and 21 hours of trauma surgery is thousands of dollars we can’t pay for,” Karen said noting the helicopter bill alone was nearly $29,000. The University of Maryland hospital X-ray bills were $1,600.

Gary gets blood thinners twice a day, which cost $525 for 21 shots.

The couple hopes Horton’s insurance will pay for at least part of their expenses, but Karen thinks that could quickly be exhausted before the larger bills arrive.

Her own hospital bill was $19,000, not including doctors’ charges.

Their car insurance through Nationwide has covered 80 percent of the shots, but other expenses may not be covered, Karen said.

The Millers have applied for other financial help — Social Security and welfare — but it could be months before any comes through, she said.

“They said it could be a year before I’m healed up,” Gary said. Meanwhile, he is back and forth to doctors and facing physical therapy.

He anticipates being able to do limited work in the spring, overseeing his three employees.

“I hope that by April, I can at least climb a ladder and look,” he said.

He has been a softball player and has coached the Union girls basketball team, a side career that he fears could be over for him now.



ENCOURAGEMENT

Family members, close friends and associates have been supportive of the family’s needs.

Friends who had met them in Maryland for the race were traveling five minutes behind them when the accident occurred. Gary Blakely of West Middlesex, Matt Blakely of New Castle and Gary Blakely Sr. of Greenville and his uncle, Barney, saw the wreck, stopped and gave the Millers reassurance until ambulances arrived.

The Union teachers offered Morgan a place to stay while the couple was hospitalized and fellow bus drivers sent a monetary contribution.

Gary’s friend, Tom Mueller, built him a wooden wheelchair ramp. He was exhilarated when he could sit in a wheelchair and go outside. He got to see his garage and his tools and breathe in some fresh air for a few minutes.

“It was like heaven.”

(Email: dmorris@ncnewsonline.com)