l’ve Fallen and Many Helped Me Up

This blog recounts 72 hours of my life after falling off of a roof last week. God was so kind to me.

The Incident

• While helping those who were affected by Hurricane Helene, I fell off a roof on Tuesday Feb. 11, 2025 in Baxley GA. Since late October my brother in love, Kevin Parker pictured above, and I  have been helping and praying for people affected by the wind damage of the hurricane by installing roofs and other repairs.
• After lunch we continued working. I was on the roof and Kevin was on a ladder screwing down the bottom of the metal sheets we were installing over a shingled roof.
• Best I can remember, I took a step up to the next wooden runner and slipped on the shingle underneath.  I reached down to grip the wooden runner to catch myself, but was already falling. I turned and faced downward toward the edge of the roof which was 8 ½ feet off the ground. I was trying to get my feet in front to go off the roof feet first – at least that was the 1/10 of second thought in which my brain was trying to create a best case scenario. Instead, I was going down head first. 
• I remember facing my brother in love on the ladder as I was falling. He prayed a 1/10 second prayer “God let Greg land on his back!” He said this desperation prayer because at the moment of my passing him I was going head first. He says he watched my body twist at the last moment and I landed hard on my right shoulder, with the rest of me laying flat on my back parallel with the wall. He believes an Angel twisted me away from landing on my head.
• I don’t remember this part, but this is what Kevin said happened next.     Kevin expected me to pop up, but I remained motionless. Not moving at all. He was not fearful, but became bold and authoritative in his prayers to Jesus for me. He quoted scripture, prayed in the spirit…I made no response for nearly 60 seconds. He laid his hand on my head as he continued to pray – I gasped and groaned. In a few more seconds, I let out a guttural cry of pain.  Later Pam would encourage him, that this was prep for him to know how to pray for someone to come back to life.
• As I was becoming coherent, Kevin recalls that I had signs of a concussion, although no injuries have been diagnosed on my head, besides a small cut near the ear. Regardless, I asked the same question several times as my thoughts became clearer.  I was lying flat on my back looking at the roof and an empty ladder. I wasn’t sure which one I fell off of. So I asked him again and again, “did I fall off the roof or the ladder?” I was slowly remembering whose house it was and why I was working here.
• I realized I had fallen and began to do the around the clock inspections of all of my limbs. Raised my right hand and looked at my fingers wiggling…no pain. Left arm raised and fingers wiggle…no pain. Raise both legs and shook my feet, feeling strength in my hips…no pain. Raised my head a little, turned to the left and the right….no pain. “WOW” I thought, “ I’m all good.”
• THEN I tried to sit up…PAIN, PAIN, PAIN. I felt it on my top left chest and directly under my back on the right side.  I thought Kevin may be able to get me up and we would go to the hospital…but that was not to be.  He called 911 and an ambulance was dispatched.
• Kevin asked me if I wanted to call my wife, my Pam, or should he. I told him, I would do it.
• She answered, and I spoke. “Hey Pam, do you remember the house we are working on with the steep section of a roof? Well, I fell off and I am laying flat on my back,”  She also wanted to know if I felt any tingling, so I told her I was fine. She said she was leaving Tuscaloosa, 400 miles away, to come to me. She and her hair stylist began the first layer of prayer covering. Her next actions included taking negative thoughts captive and giving thanks for what was not.  “He is not paralyzed, no broken neck or broken limbs” PTL

The first ride

• Several first responders showed up as the ambulance pulled into the side yard. I was asked several questions to see if I knew what was happening. They grabbed the orange spine board and moved me onto it…PAIN. A couple of the guys knew Kevin and he told them I would be going to Baxley hospital. This was my first ambulance ride in my life.
• I was whisked into the ER and IV was started. Had to sign papers so the ambulance could leave…first bill to come later. The PA was named Greg also. They X-rayed and saw that ribs and spinal damaged had occurred.
• Kevin showed up and told me many people were already praying. Later, his son Luke showed up. At one point I asked Luke to pray for me. Luke firmly believes if God did it in the Bible, He is still doing it today. I agreed with his prayer of faith over my body. In fact, I was hoping bones would come together like they did for Ezekiel…did’t happen that way, but I was ready.
• My phone had been fully charged, so I was able to communicate with Pam. My son, Micah, had made arrangements to drive her to GA. 
• PA Greg came in and said they were contacting a helicopter to take me to a trauma unit in Savannah, Ga, about 90 miles away. The Baxley hospital was not equipped to deal with my injuries, Three hours passed and I was starting to shiver on the orange board.  They changed plans and decided to drive me to Savannah and gave me a good dose of morphine to help with the pain of a bumpy and fast ride.  Made the 90 miles in an hour and ten minutes.
• Kevin made sure I had my phone with me as I left Baxley. While racing down the road in the ambulance, Pastor Abb Javine called. He is a dear friend from Tuscaloosa, AL. Pam had contacted him to begin to pray for me, so he called to check on me and let me know they were praying already. So, here I am traveling 90 miles an hour down the back roads of GA and I’m talking with my friend on the speaker part of my phone.  I decided not to tell him I was in the ambulance at the moment. I did not want to sensationalize the moment (fully a morphine moment).  So we talked for a couple of minutes. He prayed for me and I told him that I needed to go. Thankful to have friends ready to pray.

Savannah ER

• We arrived around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, roughly 5 hours after my fall. Signed more paperwork. They rolled me through the halls to the trauma side of the ER. No room was available so they parked me next to a wall. I thought, “they hurried me over here so I could wait next to a wall?”  What do you do when you have extra time???check your text.
• Derrick Johnson is starting a new church in Tuscaloosa and has invited Pam and I to be on the intercession team. NUBeginnings Church was already praying for me. The first text thread I read at this moment was his. His text was a response to others who said they were praying –  We are definitely on the wall, keep us posted 
• I laughed out loud and the attendant wanted to know why. I couldn’t explain it to her. Somehow I knew God was present and prophetic things were happening, because I saw a wall and people were on the wall praying for me. It made me smile to see another thread of God’s presence in the journey.
• I heard someone say across the way  “Bravo 17”. I knew that was for me and we started winding our way through the halls.  We turned a corner then another corner and pulled into room B17. 
• The repeated questions started for the night. “Do you know where you are? Do you know why you are here? Do you know what year it is? (that one was tricking, because 2025 has not been around that long) What is your name? What is your date of birth?
• I called Pam who had started driving over with our son Micah. It’s around 400 miles one way and it rained most of their trip. I told her which room I was in and would give her play by play of the Xrays, CT scans and analysis as best as I could remember.
• X Rays were done in the room and I would have to roll over for them to place plates under my body to get the camera shot – not fun.
• They did have to remove my shirt at his point. It had one of our ministry logos – Good News Walking.  With or without the shirt, I was Good News Walking.
• Instead of coming to the ER, somehow I convinced Kevin and his wife Wendy to go to their AirBNB for the night as I knew that we would all need some rest. However, I told Kevin that I expected to him to be with me in the morning.
• I had fractures on vertebrae T1-T6 and fractured ribs on both sides of my body.
• The question – Were there any injuries that would require surgery? Did I have internal injuries?

Wednesday Savannah ER, Feb 12

• I went in and out of consciousness as time seemed to be going by quickly. At one point I decided to start instrumental worship playing over my phone. Peace settled into my B17 room.
• More shots, more questions, BP high, sugar high, another bag of fluid.
• Neurological surgeon came in and said that my fractures to my spine did not rise to the level of surgery.  I had transverse fractures on the little pieces of bone sticking out from the right side trunk of the spine…no damage to the spine. He said, “if you are going to have damage to your spine, this is probably the best way to do it”. It should heal well.
• Next we followed the path of internal damage. There is a small fracture on the left side of the sternum which gave a small puncture to the lungs. 
• They brought in a sonogram machine to check on all of my internal organs. Morphine was working so I told them, “if you find twins, let me know. We already have a pair of sons.” They laughed
• Heart – good. Kidneys – good All other organs checked out
• Pam and Micah arrived around 4:00 a.m. It was determined that Pam would stay, and Micah would go to the AirBNB and sleep.
• Pam caught me up on all the text and people praying so far and then tried to sleep in a very uncomfortable chair.

Mid Morning Wednesday

• Brianna Varner part of OutBack Tuscaloosa texted Pam and said Leslie Freeman would like to set up a GroupMe chat so Pam could update information easily for a lot of people at one time. Pam had barely responded yes when the chat began to ding with people joining in.
• Kevin and Micah came into the room and Pam went home to get some sleep.
• The music played on and peace remained in the room.  We read a text where people were praying specifically for God’s presence to be felt in our room.
• One nurse came in and commented how different it felt in our room than the rest of the ER. Peaceful.
• About 2 hours later she came back in for more shots. She took three steps in and paused, “just a second.” She walked back out into the nursing station just outside our door and grabbed another nurse. She escourted her into our room and put her back against the wall and said “close your eyes, do you feel it?”
• “Wow,that’s peaceful”.  “I know, right.”
• Kevin and I told her that we love Jesus and we like to pray for people. We asked the nurse who was dragged in….”Can we pray for a specific request that you have right now?”  She replied yes as she was trying to phrase the request. “I need a negative report on some bloodwork.”  Side note – it’s so weird that in medical terms a negative is a positive. Anyway, Kevin is such a bold pray-er and we began to ask God to heal her body.  She thanked us as she left. Where Jesus is, He is all there and loves to be Himself bringing peace from the Prince of Peace.
• A little while later a PT came by and strapped a Thoracic Brace around my chest. It works very similar to a girdle. Immediately I had relief to help with the coughs and movement.
• It’s now late afternoon and I had still not eaten or drank anything as they thought I would be having surgery. 
• Kevin and I rehearsed the events of the fall to see what I remember. I told him that I could remember every conversation about the last sheet we were working on, but not the slip itself. He did not see the exact moment it happened to me either. BUT while I was sleeping the first night, I felt my left leg raise like taking a step and then fall suddenly, my left arm shot out of the bed to the side. All this movement startled me, awakening me from my sleep.  I felt I heard God whisper, “that’s what happened.” I fell back asleep.                                                                                                               

Wednesday afternoon to late

• Kevin and Wendy headed back home for the night while Micah and Pam stayed in our little B17 room.
• A Nurse told us they wanted to transfer us to an Intermediate Trauma room, but none were available. 
• The ER  halls were lined with people waiting for a room. On the way to my room, Pam would pass by and think to herself. “Father, my husband is in a room protected from this flu outbreak in the hallways.  Thank you for keeping him safe. He is having so many people praying for him and believing in his healing, BUT who is praying for these people?” As intentional as she could, she began to lock eyes with each patient and pray for them under her breath.
• Each trip through the halls ended with Pam entering our B 17 room with her eyes full of tears of compassion. Peace. – In our room Peace.
• One of the common questions asked, “What is my pain level on a scale of 1-10?” I was no longer on morphine, but my answer would be 2-4. They would look at me in disbelief.
• I would then explain. “As long as I am laying aligned and not moving, I have no pain. BUT when I have to roll over or you move me, 9-10.
• With the knowledge that I could rest pain free,  I convinced Pam and Micah to leave me in B17 for the night and for them to go home and get the needed rest they had missed the night before.

Thursday Morning

• I slept off and on through the night, in the same position. When I tried to move to adjust myself, pain shot through my right shoulder. To this point no one had even looked  over the shoulder. Pam had noticed the swelling the first night.
• So they whirled me back to Xray and found that I had a fracture at my ac joint.  The Ortho Doctor told me that I might need surgery and explained how he would do it…I asked him if I could get it done after we went back to Tuscaloosa…I was kinda hoping we would go home today.
• I also asked them if I could have some breakfast. I had not eaten since Tuesday lunch. Not really hungry, I just knew that I should eat. It was good to finally eat something.
• A couple hours later they took another  in depth Xray of my shoulder and some more of my chest with my brace on.
• Their input at this point…no surgery for the shoulder, it seemed to be healing. Pam believed that God was healing.
• Her brother, who had a similar accident last year, texted her that he was praying.  It brought much comfort when he said, “I believe God started healing Greg the moment he hit the ground.”
• I asked if I could go home to continue care in Tuscaloosa? They wanted to keep me one more day while they monitored my BP, pain meds, bathroom, etc.

Thursday Afternoon

• Having stabilized my condition, they finally moved me to another room in the ER
• I was about to start my training for the next couple of days…moving from a horizontal position on the bed to standing to walking. This would be necessary for me to go to the bathroom and get in a wheelchair to leave.
• The Thoracic brace is similar to a police safety vest…not made for comfort. Lying still is great, but all the fractures remind you of their continued fragile state when you start to move. The brace helps minimize the discomfort from a 10 to a 7.
• With help, I got up, walked to a wheelchair and left room B17 for  C4. It was my turn to pass several people in the hall waiting for my room. Attendants were working as best as they could.
• We started the music again, but this time chose worship with words to help us think about the goodness of God.
• The move to another room made me miss lunch….still wasn’t hungry.
• I had been lying flat on my back for over two days and wanted to sit up.  With Micah and Pam’s help they led me to a chair where I sat for 1 hour. I felt like that was a good achievement and decided to lay down again.
• While I rested, Pam and Micah left to begin preparation for leaving at some time in the near future while grabbing themselves some lunch.
• My new nurse came in and commented, “I love the vibes that are happening here. It’s different from anywhere else in the ER. Keep doing whatever it is you are doing.”  I smiled and remembered all of the prayers for the dwelling of God’s presence.
• About 4 that afternoon she told me that they had cleared another room in the main hospital for us up on the 5th floor. They began making preparation to move me.
• I called Pam and told them I would be on the move if they wanted to get back.
• I got up and made it to a transport wheelchair
• Dinner was about to be served…I missed it, but my nurse said she would personally make sure I got supper.

Thursday Evening

• My new room was 564 which did have a better chair for Pam to sleep on to stay the night with me.  She did not want to miss any of the next morning’s interactions with the Doctors.
• Carl walks in, my nurse for the next 12 hours. One of the most cheerful guys you would want to meet. He introduced himself and said as he walked out. “I’m Carl. Just one call is all y’all need to get what you want from me.” He would be refreshing the whole night which included poking and prodding every hour.
• My nurse from C4 fulfilled her promise and brought me supper…I think it was at the end of her shift.
• Then another person brought supper, we sent it back
• Then another guy brought me supper, Dominique.  We were on the phone with Kevin discussing how I would get home the next day…Did Kevin need to bring an SUV etc.?
• When I looked at Dominique holding my third plate of supper, I knew God was inviting us into another ministry event. God wants us to pause when we see duplication or more events of the same thing and ask Him what is going on.
• From my hospital bed, I asked Dominique if we could pray for him. He was ready. I asked him specifically how we could pray.
• “My mental state and that I would make some right decisions.” he shared honestly.  I prayed, Pam prayed and I waited for Kevin to start on the phone. After 10 seconds of silence, Kevin jumped in and started to pray. Dominique’s countenance changed before our eyes. A beautiful smile of pearly whites broke out across his face. Pam then gave him a momma hug. Life and peace settled over Dominique.
• We made our plans and Micah left for the night while Pam stayed.

Friday Morning

• We finally got some sleep from 4 to 6:30 am when the shift changed and a new round of monitoring occurred.
• One of the PA’s came around 8 and asked if we wanted to go home? If I needed their help to continue to heal I could stay, but it looked like I had enough support to leave the hospital.
• We told them, if it’s possible, we were ready. But we needed PT to show Pam how to put on the Thoracic brace.
• She left to confirm with the Doctors and begin to draw up our discharge paperwork.
• PT showed up and demonstrated to Pam how the brace came off and fit again. To show I was capable of leaving the hospital, I had to get up and walk around.
• Our PA returned to give final instructions for followup in Tuscaloosa.
• I asked her what was the final analysis or the extent of my injuries.
• She said, “on your right side you have some both anterior and posterior fractures on ribs 1-7 and 9. Don’t know how 8 was skipped. You have transverse fractures on vertebrae T1 through T6. On the left side, fractures of ribs 1 and 2. Your sternum is fractured on the left side which caused a very small puncture in the lung. Finally you have a displacement or fracture in your right shoulder.
• When I total that damage, I count 18 places which need healing. As I am writing about all of the damage, it appears to be quite extensive, yet, I really don’t feel as bad as all of that sounds. PTL
• Micah pulled his Camry to the front entrance and I squatted into the seat.  After several stops we would drive to Kevin and Wendy’s home a couple hours away in Baxley.
• A little over 72 hours from my fall, I was among friends, beginning to heal away from the hospital. I was fully cognizant that I was being blessed because of focused prayers over and toward my life by so many friends and family members.

Humbled

Pam and I have been overwhelmed by the breadth of prayers and support. We are more comfortable on the giving side of the receiving equation. At this point our palms are up, receiving from our friends and family.

Arriving home on Saturday afternoon is another chapter, but I would like to make a few more reflections.

1. My biggest miracle started when I fell. God protected me from death, paralysis, broken limbs and hips. None of those things happened when I fell. The Miracle – It’s what did not happen to me. I had no control over my landing on my fall. God spared me for a reason, otherwise I would be rejoicing in heaven instead of here on earth.
2. Our children have made Pam and I cry with their expression of love and sacrifice to help Dad and mom. We have been wonderfully blessed with some great kids.
3. One unique image in my mind from the fall is a third person perspective of the event. From a distance of about 20 feet I am looking at the back of me falling at the edge of the roof and I am looking at Kevin on the ladder.. It is a snapshot – not a moving picture. Is this my imagination or something more supernatural ?
4. There has been an enhancement in my ability to hear God and discern what He is saying. It’s like the clutter has been wiped away.
5. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. I’ve seemed to have lost my appetite for so many things the world has to offer. Would like to keep it that way because it is so easy for other stuff to climb back in.
6. What will I do differently moving forward knowing that God has spared my life? I’m open and listening.

Thanks again to all who have prayed

Blessings

Love y’all