By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
The three children peeked around the door, their little faces marked with excitement and apprehension.
Their mother had been asleep for a long time, hurt in a car accident just after Christmas. But now she was awake and ready for some much-needed hugs.
Tabitha Wilder awakened from a month-long coma in late January and was just strong enough last week to see her four children Ivan, 7, Brian Jr., 4, Mychal, 3, and Haylei, 10 months.
Wilder was critically injured Dec. 27 when Matthew DiBease, 27, of Geneva-on-the-Lake, went left of center into the eastbound lane of Route 84, and struck Wilder’s vehicle head on, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol reports.
OHP Sgt. Jared Sutton said DiBease was “impaired” at the time of the crash. Drugs — either prescription drugs or otherwise — are suspected, Sutton said.
Wilder’s journey to recovery includes several surgeries, family member Margaret Emrisko said, and she will remain at Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center for at least four more months and will endure intense physical therapy. Wilder was moved from the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital last week.
“Tabitha still doesn’t remember a lot,” Emrisko said. “She doesn’t remember anything about the crash. She still has the breathing machine, so she can’t speak well, but she tries.”
Emrisko said the children are, “trying hard to understand what is going on with Mommy.”
“The kids have suffered so much in this,” she said. “They don’t understand that the doctors can’t just put a (bandage) on it and make Mommy all better.”
Wilder and her boyfriend, Brian Emrisko, both worked opposite shifts at local Wendy’s restaurants to pay the bills. Now the family is working together to keep the couple’s apartment and bills paid.
Donations to benefit Wilder and her children can be made at any First Merit Bank branch to the “Tabitha Wilder Benevolent Fund.”
Donations of grocery store gift cards and nonperishable food items can be made at St. Joseph Calasanctius Church, 32 E. Jefferson St., Jefferson, 44077. Donations can be left in the rectory 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
“The gift cards are so, so appreciated,” Emerisko said. “They just help out so much.”
Donations can also be made at the Geneva and Ashtabula Wendy’s restaurants.
