PARAGON — On a dark stretch of Ind. 67 just south of Paragon, it happened in a split second Saturday night.
A deer ran onto the road. A car in one lane hit it. The deer flew into the other lane and onto the windshield of a second vehicle.
In that vehicle, three people were riding home to Spencer after visiting 6-day-old twins at the neonatal intensive care unit at IU Health West. These were twins who had been dreamed of for years and who filled the family’s lives with happy possibilities.
Cheyenne Sears — a 25-year-old mom who talked incessantly about having babies and building a long life with her husband of nearly two years — was lost, pronounced deceased at the scene. She was riding in the front passenger seat near where the deer hit the windshield.
And countless lives were changed forever that night.
Only memories of Cheyenne are left to the family. To co-workers from a nursing career full of promise. To friends, new and old, who experienced her liveliness. To patients at a Mooresville senior living facility, who are to no longer have the bright smile who stopped by to see them each day. To nurses, aides, administrators and others she worked with for four years at The Springs of Mooresville.
In the aftermath of Saturday night’s tragedy, hundreds of heartfelt remembrances and more than $50,000 of aid are flowing in. Those sentiments come in social media, texts, hugs, tears, phone calls and the kinds of visits that commonly in smaller communities come with a hot dish for the family.
Joy, then sadness
Cheyenne had just given birth to the twins, a boy and a girl, on Oct. 20. Now the family is planning her funeral and trying to navigate the aftermath of a tragedy that is not only sad, but also confusing, scary, surreal and hardly fathomable.
That night, not only had Cheyenne passed, but her mother, who was driving, was seriously injured and flown to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. The juvenile in the back seat suffered scratches, cuts and bruises. But her biggest injury was the continuing trauma of standing alone at the roadside after the crash and finding her aunt lifeless and her grandmother unconscious, spending painful minutes waiting until first responders arrived. As a precaution, the girl was taken to Riley Children’s Health Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis after the wreck and released.
The driver of the car that the deer walked into, Andrew Hicks, 48, of Martinsville, was not injured, nor were his wife and child who were also in the vehicle.
Cheyenne’s husband of five years, Coty Sears, her brother Chad and her father Brian Nash were at the Nashes’ Spencer home, waiting on dinner.
And then came what Cheyenne’s dad calls “the phone call that changed our world.”
The family speaks
The family, as you would expect, is devastated by the shock and nightmare of coming to terms with Cheyenne’s death.
In a conversation with The Correspondent on Monday night, immediate family members talked about what made Cheyenne special — and why so many are responding to her death and the fate of her twins.
“We lost an angel, we lost a gift to this world,” her very proud dad Brian said, “and it’s not gonna be replaceable.
“She could talk with anyone,” he said. “It didn’t matter where you came from. Her heart was so big, and she loved with real love, nothing fake.”
Brian hasn’t seen it — he can’t look yet — but he knows Facebook is filled with an outpouring of love arising from the tragedy.
“The love [Cheyenne] has shown [is] able to bring us all together,” Brian said. “I didn’t think that was possible anymore, but I guess it restores my faith in humanity.”
Even in the mourning that is a reality, he sees the love as a positive that comes from the worst nightmare a family could suffer.
Teri Nash came home from the hospital Monday and is recovering, with worries about an eye injury and broken bones. (Teri was too overwhelmed by her tears to speak during The Correspondent interview.)
Coty and the twins will live with his in-laws in Spencer. Teri and Brian Nash and the Nash brothers will also be on hand to help the twins.
Money raised in online donations will allow him to stay home and care for the twins, Coty said.
That money, as of Tuesday afternoon, had reached $52,260 from 1,006 donors in a drive that will last into November.
‘Moving the world’
Coty says his wife was an “outgoing loving person who didn’t have a mean bone in her body — unless she needed to it.” To which her mom laughed.
“She is moving the world right now with all of this happening … a great impact on everybody’s lives. … She always did what she needed to do to make someone else happy.”
Neither Coty nor the rest of the family knew about the online donations. Those were put together by people at The Springs. “I can’t thank them enough for doing that.”
As to the donors, many of whom the family does not know, Coty said they show there are “still good people in the world, and when someone is in pain, they try to help.”
He describes that help as “an army” of helpers behind him and the rest of the family.
‘A little spitfire’
Chad Sears, Cheyenne’s older brother, calls his sister a “little spitfire who made her presence known to the world.”
“She was definitely the glue that held the family together. … She was my little rock who I went to for stuff and vice versa. It was more than just a brother-sisterly love. She was my best friend,” said Chad, who lives in Brooklyn.
Zach Sears, Cheyenne’s younger brother, said Cheyenne could “walk into any room and just light up the room, take control of every room.”
Zach, who lives in Bloomington, said she helped him recover from addiction and “never turned her back on me going through addiction and always was supportive.”
“She just got the best qualities out of everybody. You’ll never meet anyone who would have a bad thing to say about her.
“There’s just no words to [describe] the pain this is causing our family,” Zach said.
At The Springs
Work went on at The Springs of Mooresville this week, but undoubtedly a tone of sadness was on the minds of those Cheyenne worked with as assistant director of nursing — which meant she supervised the center’s entire nursing staff.
Natalie Padgett, The Springs executive director, said Monday “[Cheyenne} was one of the most loyal, nicest people you have ever met. … She was like a mother of my own children. … She was as amazing employee and amazing person.”
The Spring’s parent company, Trilogy Health Services, said in a statement: “Cheyenne was a beloved part of our community whose warmth and dedication touched the lives of many residents and families. Her energy, positivity and love for her residents, teammates and community were unmatched. Her commitment to creating meaningful experiences and caring for others will be remembered always.”
‘Lost a treasure’
Chyenne’s father Brian will have the last words: “The world lost a treasure. We want the world to know what they lost.”
