Photos submitted to the Times Observer Sara and Danny Potter are pictured with their 5-year-old daughter, Libby, who suffered a serious head injury in a crash May 28. The family has been grateful for the support they have received.

After moving to the city of Warren as a family three years ago, Danny and Sara Potter sometimes struggled to find the right words to explain the rationale behind their cross-country trek.

“People always ask, ‘Well, did you have a job here?’ No. ‘Did you have family here?’ No. ‘Do you have roots here?’ No. ‘Well, why did you come here?’ We have a difficult time trying to express to people, but now I have words to say it,” Danny told the Times Observer this week.

The Potters’ 5-year-old daughter, Libby, suffered a serious head injury in a crash a day before Memorial Day. Though five members of the Potter family were inside the vehicle that morning, it was Libby who came away with a traumatic brain injury and lingering questions over her long-term health.

Amid what the pair described was a chaotic and surreal scene, both noted the actions of Good Samaritans that have provided a silver lining to the ordeal.

“For as bad as it was, it could have been a lot worse,” Sara said. “We’re very grateful that she’s still with us and that she’s still herself, because with a traumatic head injury like she had, along with everything else, she could have easily had brain damage bad enough to alter her personality or memory.”

The crash occurred at the intersection of Market Street and Jackson Run Road. Just two months prior, the family was involved in another crash that totaled a different van.

On May 28, a Sunday, the family was traveling north on Market Street when the van they were in was struck by a southbound truck attempting a left-turn onto Jackson Run Road. It was around 10 a.m. while many area residents were attending church.

“We were going straight through and he was pulling that left, and he thought he had enough time and he didn’t,” Danny, who was driving their Honda Odyssey, said of the moments just before the crash.

Danny’s recollection of the violent collision is somewhat hazy. He suffered a concussion and has been unable to return to work as a mental health counselor.

“There’s an official accident report that will show all the specifics,” he said. “My memory is that I didn’t have time to do anything more than just touch the brake pedal before we hit.”

Just two months prior in March, the Potters were involved in another crash while on their way to Bradford that totaled a different van. They hit a patch of black ice, which spun the van into an embankment.

While everyone escaped serious injuries, Sara remembered that the van’s airbags didn’t deploy; she wonders what might have happened if they were in that vehicle when the May 28 accident occurred.

‘A WALL OF CHAOS’

Sara was looking down at her phone as the family’s new van approached the intersection of Jackson Run Road.

“I remember hearing Danny say something like, ‘Oh no!’ or something — I don’t remember what it was,” she said. “And then it was just shaking, you know, and a wall of chaos in front of me as the windshield shattered.”

While the airbag may have given Danny a concussion when it deployed, it almost certainly saved his life. Immediately after the crash, he remembers almost being able to reach out and touch the other truck as the vehicles ended up so close together.

“I had two early thoughts,” he said. “One is, ‘Wow that could have been a lot worse’ because I was seeing how close that truck was to me. And I was imagining, in those first few seconds, that I was likely to be the worst injured. … After those first few seconds it was just, ‘I can’t believe this happened again.'”

Sara recalled the moment it became apparent Libby was seriously injured.

“It’s like, OK, is everybody OK?” she said of those first moments. “And my 4-year-old chimed in, ‘Yeah, we’re OK.’ My son is like, ‘Yeah, we’re OK.’ And I turn around and I see Libby and she’s hanging limp and with her head down. I was like Libby? She didn’t answer me. I get out of my seatbelt, I go step over the console and into the back and I lift her up and I see this huge gash in her forehead. I thought I was looking at her skull.”

Sara helped Libby to sit upright. She then came to, crying and confused and unable to sit still.

“She couldn’t process what I was saying,” Sara said.

Danny remembers feeling a range of emotions upon seeing his wife and stricken daughter.

“We’ve got a max of freaking out, you know,” he said. “All of that, at first, was spent on is she alive? And, as soon as we find out that she’s alive, the level of freaking out doesn’t drop it — just switches to the next thing.”

Libby was transported by helicopter to Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo. After surgery, she spent several days in the intensive care unit.

Sara and her two other children were taken to Warren General Hospital.

OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT

In the trauma of dealing with Libby’s injuries and their own, the family is extremely grateful for what has been tremendous support received from the community.

The assistance is much-welcomed, with Sara and Danny unable to work consistently while recovering and with follow-up appointments for Libby.

“It’s been overwhelming in the best possible way,” said Danny, who alluded to the bevy of questions that have yet to be answered following the accident. “But we don’t feel alone. We walked into Warren General (Hospital) and the receptionist looked up and instantly knew who we were and said, ‘This must be Libby. How are you doing?’ Instantly we had a friend.”

While in Buffalo, the family stayed at Kevin Guest House, an organization that provides inexpensive housing and meals for families and caregivers of patients at local hospitals. “We stayed several nights there and it felt safe and welcoming,” Sara said.

Hessel Valley Lutheran Church is hosting a spaghetti dinner benefit from 3 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, to assist the Potter family. Donations also can be mailed to the church, 166 Hessel Valley Road, Chandlers Valley, PA 16312 with “Libby” written in the memo line.

In addition, almost $18,000 has been donated through a fundraiser (available at https://gofund.me/f40b8b35 ).

Sara said the family has a deep-rooted belief in faith and the power of prayer. She said they were told afterward that two nearby churches stopped their services that morning and offered prayer when word got out that a 5-year-old girl had been airlifted to the hospital.

“I believe in the community so much, and I feel like the community coming together can do more than just about any other organization,” she said.

But there’s also the Good Samaritan, later found to be a retired state trooper, who came across the crash scene. After asking if everyone was OK, the retired trooper took off his shirt and applied it to Libby’s head to stem the bleeding.

That gesture, among many since May 28, has helped the Potters better explain why they moved from Utah to Warren three years ago.

“In that moment, I had a stranger literally give the shirt off his back to help,” Danny said.