by Therese Horvat
SHAWNEE — Nick Vallejo has a lot that he’s thankful for this Christmas season. The parishioner of Sacred Heart Parish here turned 36 on his recent birthday.
And he’s happy to be alive.
Giving credit where credit’s due, he acknowledges his wife and family, his employer, and — by all means — his good friends, the Blessed Mother and his guardian angel. This was the A-team that saw him through the aftermath of a life-threatening accident and on the path to healing and recovery.
Life-threatening accident
On the morning of Dec. 21, 2021, Vallejo was traveling to visit his son who was having surgery at Children’s Mercy Hospital. He was driving eastbound on I-70 in western Wyandotte County when out of the blue, a vehicle jumped the median and struck his 2005 Toyota Camry head-on. Vallejo has no recollection of the accident.
From what people have told him and from the dash cam of a nearby vehicle that captured the accident, an explosion occurred at the point of impact. Paramedics arrived quickly at the scene and transported Vallejo, who was critically injured, by ambulance to KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. The driver of the other vehicle sustained no major injuries.
When his parents, Sharon and Dennis Vallejo, arrived at the emergency room, they inquired about injuries to their son’s knee, which was split down the middle from striking the dashboard. They learned, however, that his severed aorta was of much greater concern, as he was hanging on to his life by a thread.
Dennis, a retired police senior master patrolman, explained that in most high-impact accidents the seatbelt will tear the aorta, and the victim will die. Sharon, president of Catholic Cemeteries of Northeast Kansas, turned straight to prayer.
“I was scared and made promises with God that if he could please let Nick make it through the injuries and surgeries and not take my son from me,” she said, “I would make any sacrifice.“
Counting on the Blessed Mother
The prayers and God’s providence prevailed. Vallejo remained hospitalized for nine days, five of which were in intensive care. He underwent surgeries to repair his aorta, knee and wrist. His recovery journey had just begun. Home therapy followed for at least four months. He was off work for nine months.
Throughout this time, he said he kept asking himself, “‘Why me? Why didn’t God let me die?’ So many people, including my doctors, told me that I should have died from this accident and that hardly anyone makes it back from an aorta tear.”
Members of the Vallejo family are no strangers to near-death experiences. Following a similar occurrence of his own, Vallejo’s grandfather said that his first sight was of the Blessed Mother, and that it was the most beautiful experience he had ever had — so much so, that he didn’t want to return to life. But the senior Vallejo was told that his time on earth was not yet over. That story stuck with his grandson through the years.
Devotion to the Blessed Mother, in fact, has been passed down the generations of the Vallejo family. Vallejo’s father Dennis gave him a Marian medal to wear when he was in the military and stationed in Afghanistan. Dennis’ mother had brought the medal from Rome and had originally given it to him.
When the chain broke in the war zone, Vallejo asked his parents for a speedy replacement.
“Wearing the medal, I felt safe, and I knew the Blessed Mother would protect me from harm’s way,” he said.
After the 2021 accident, Vallejo believes that his faith and his love for the Blessed Mother sustained him and kept him going — along with the support of people closest to him. His girlfriend Codi, who is now his wife, was by his side through it all. His parents, brother and sister took days off from their jobs to help care for him in his home.
In September 2022, McLane Trucking, his employer in Shawnee, welcomed him back on the job. He had worked in logistics at the company since 2018. He returned to the role of supervisor over the warehouse.
“I felt blessed that McLane took me back with open arms,” he said. “They have been a wonderful company to work for and were very good to me throughout my recovery.”
Not his time
Three years after the accident, Vallejo’s left side remains numb and tingling due to permanent nerve damage. Since the accident, he said his faith has strengthened and his relationship with God is much stronger.
“I have more frequent talks with God,” he added. “I know he has a plan for me.”
The experience made Vallejo look at life differently and not take any days or any people for granted.
“You never know when you are going to be called home,” he said.
His mother is convinced that God was watching over her son. When she and her husband retrieved their son’s personal belongings from the totaled vehicle, they found a guardian angel holy card under the driver’s seat. Vallejo said the card had been in the console of the vehicle since he purchased it from his sister-in-law.
“How it got under the seat is a mystery and a miracle,” he said. “I know we all have our own personal guardian angels, and I believe mine was with me for sure that day.”
“It wasn’t time,” said Sharon Vallejo gratefully, “for Nick to go home to God.”
Nick Vallejo belongs to Sacred Heart Parish in Shawnee.
