West Virginia bluegrass fiddler Crystal Shipley BIttinger was the victim of a pedestrian-vehicle collision in Charles Town, WV on January 21 at roughly 3:30 in the afternoon. She had exited her car and was crossing the street to a coffee shop when an automobile operated by an elderly woman struck her, causing a serious head laceration.
Crystal was active for many years on the bluegrass scene, performing as a member of the Dixie Bee Liners, David Mayfield Parade, Coyote Ugly, and The Fly Birds. She says that she hasn’t played a lot of late, though she has been recording some with Darren Beachley recently.
These days, she works for Aetna Medicaid, managing nursing facilities for them and doing a fair bit of driving through the region.
Following the accident, she was transported by helicopter to the Inova Fairfax Medical Center in Fairfax, VA, where she spent the next 13 hours. Amazingly, she is doing quite well now, though treatment is continuing on an outpatient basis.
Here is her account.
“I was traveling for work in the northern Virginia/West Virginia area, Charles Town to be exact. I had stopped in the local downtown area and was going to get a drink at a local coffee shop. The area was a small, two-lane road with multiple shops lining the streets.
I parallel-parked my vehicle to walk across the road and get a coffee. Next thing I know, I woke up in a helicopter and was told we were on the way to Inova Hospital in Fairfax, VA, in the metropolitan DC area.
They told me I had been struck by a vehicle and had sustained a large head laceration. I was unconscious until towards the end of the helicopter ride. We arrived there, where scans of my abdomen and spine were completed, and thankfully resulted as normal.
They eventually let my husband take me home around 7:00 a.m. For the rest of the day, I noticed I could not use my left arm and the discomfort was getting worse, including tingling in my hands/fingers. As a nurse myself, I know this isn’t a normal finding.
My husband then took me to an urgent care, where an x-ray of my left arm was completed. This morning we were notified by the radiologist that the shoulder was broken and dislocated, and would need to be ‘popped back into place’ under intravenous sedation at the hospital. They also advised we get some imaging of my head due to the laceration and impact from hitting the ground. We are waiting to have that done now.
It’s been a very interesting past 48 hours, but we are so thankful these are the only injuries sustained. This could have been a whole lot worse.”
That seems like a remarkable outcome, but can you imagine walking across the street and then waking up in a helicopter? We hope she bought a lottery ticket on Wednesday.
I’m sure we all wish Crystal a speedy and complete recovery.
