/Portals/2/logos/__TFMF_izav5v554kueqz553okug045_5d123028-ef63-4789-a13d-3370547a1424_0___Selected.jpg en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Fri, 24 May 2013 02:27:00 GMT 15 By Claudia Lopez
3:30 a.m.: The phone rings a chilling tone. Junior Sam Rogers, wakened by his parents, waits to hear the bad news. His brother, Benjamin Rogers, and senior Auguste Rohle’s brother and Benjamin’s best friend, Kirk Rohle have been in a devastating house fire. 8:01 a.m.: Junior Olivia Wayne’s usual ride to school takes an unexpected turn. As she brakes before a red light, she is pushed by a following car into the middle of the intersection. 1:45 p.m.: As the rain slams harder and harder down on her Ford Escort, senior Rachel Laux hydroplanes into the next lane, slamming into another car. "It started with a cigarette," Sam Rogers said. In the late evening of Jan. 25, all was normal in the Hampden-Sydney College’s Tiger Athletic Club House, where Benjamin and Kirk were staying. As the two football stars slept, someone’s cigarette was burning a hole in the downstairs couch. "Basically, their house caught on fire," Auguste Rohle said. "They were not alarmed until the fire had taken up half of the downstairs." While other residents screamed to alert the house, Benjamin, always the heavy sleeper, passed the noise off as a distant dream. Eight of the nine residents raced to get out of the house. However, Benjamin lay sleeping in the house that was swiftly being engulfed by flames. "Kirk realized that his best friend was still in the house," Rohle said. Along with friends Travis Lane and Josh Phipps, Kirk battled the thick suffocating smoke calling out Benjamin’s name. Lost in the haze, Benjamin and the two other men were able to reach safety. Kirk remained frantically searching for his best friend. "Kirk got lost in the smoke," Rogers said. "It felt like he was going deeper and deeper into an oven." Fortunately, all nine college students including Kirk were able to escape the progressing fire. "He said he saw a light," Rohle said. "He broke out of a one-story window. He said something led him to the window." Whatever the sympathetic enigma was, both Benjamin and Kirk needed to go to the hospital. Covered in black soot and aching burns, the Hampden-Sydney football players were taken to the VCU Medical Center, Kirk by helicopter and Benjamin by car. On a distant road, the Rohle and Rogers families received the news of the fire. "When you get a 4 a.m. phone call, nothing’s good," Rohle said. New information soon surfaced to the families. By the time the morning sun had risen, the two boys were being cared for by the nurses of the MCV. "Ben had second-degree burns on his face," Rogers said. "Kirk had third-degree burns of his hands and feet." In efforts to save his friend, Kirk received the brunt of the damage, being the most hurt out of the nine men. Already having had one surgery, he is due to undergo several more over the next two to three months. His family and friends hope by then that the two best friends’ lives can return to normal. "With how strong and tough Kirk was, he’ll heal fast," Rogers said. "Eventually, everything will be fine." As if the test of their friendship could go on longer, Benjamin, worried about his friend, continues to visit Kirk in the hospital. A friendship extending beyond their Hanover years, the best friends are proving the lengths they will go for one another. Benjamin and Kirk were not the only Hanover students to experience a heart whirling moment. One early morning, Olivia Wayne trekked her normal route to school on Route 301. A day like any other turned her ease into an imminent fear. At one of the intersections, the light was beginning to turn yellow. "I hit my brakes," Wayne said. "The lady behind me slammed into me and pushed me into the intersection." Dazed, she could not understand what had just happened. Slowly, Wayne pulled over to the side of the road as police officers came to her rescue. "Honestly, I thought I ran over something," she said. "I didn’t really know I had been hit." In addition, the rush hour traffic gaped to see the accident. School buses passed with curious faces pressed against the windows. "A lot of people were trying to see who I was," Wayne said. "The whole school saw me cry." Despite her date with a smidge of embarrassment, Wayne was given proper care to treat her concussion and whiplash. Luckily, no one else was hurt in the collision. On a rainy Jan. 11, Rachel Laux was headed to an appointment in Ashland when a quick turn slammed her into a passing Yukon. "It was raining off and on that day and I went around the curve and hydroplaned into the other lane," she said. "I hit a Yukon with my Ford Escort without brakes or anything." Her memory from the accident is foggy. Bits and pieces come back to her each day. Much of what she remembers is after-the-fact. A woman driving by saw what happened and pulled over to help. "I remember saying I don’t know what’s going on over and over again," Laux said. "She was trying to get me to not go into shock." As the doctors attempted to heal her broken left femur, knees and lungs contusions, hearing loss, and concussion, the pain killer left her confused and dazed. "I remember the ER and how I was squeezing a doctor’s hand and he was like she’s going to break it," she said. "I kind of remember either the MRI or CT scan because I was really out of it at that point and thought I was dreaming and that they were playing hide and seek with me." Laux stayed in the hospital for eight days, four of which were in the ICU. She stayed on a breathing tube for three. Laux is now on the slow road to recovery with a metal rod binding her broken femur. She has since returned to school. ]]> Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:30:59 GMT