Lost dog adds heartache to injury for Missouri woman
By ERIC BERNSEE
Editor
Emily I. Thomas is one fortunate young woman.
Fortunate the car she was trapped in didn't burst into flames from the impact of careening into a guardrail that imprisoned her against the driver's door. Fortunate to be alive, yes. And fortunate her injuries weren't as severe as they might have been.
More than week ago, in the early morning hours of Aug. 7, the 22-year-old St. Ann, Mo., woman was involved in a harrowing one-car accident that could have left her for dead along a dark, lonely stretch of Interstate 70 in Putnam County west of Cloverdale.
But now Thomas and her boyfriend, Seth Bailey of Flora, Ill., are hoping Emily's luck hasn't all run out and that fortune could perhaps smile on her one last time.
For lost in the aftermath of an accident serious enough to warrant Thomas being flown via LifeLine helicopter to Methodist Hospital at Indianapolis was her dog. And still missing is the two-year-old Rat Terrier/Dachshund mix that somewhat resembles a Greyhound in size, spirit and speed.
The dog's name is Corker, and from all accounts, her going missing somewhere around the 38- or 39-mile marker of I-70 has the accident victim more upset than all her own injuries combined.
While Thomas is stable and awaiting discharge instructions that could come this week, she is sad about Corker and remains hopeful someone has found her dog.
"I can honestly say," boyfriend Seth Bailey offered, "that losing Corker is bothering her more at this point than her injuries.
"She really, really loves her," he added. "She knows her own bones will mend, but the thought of Corker being gone is really hard on her."
His girlfriend is "doing pretty well," Bailey said, noting that Thomas sustained a shattered pelvis, four broken ribs and a multitude of bruises and cuts.
"She's an extremely lucky girl to have come out of it with just the injuries she did, given how severe the crash was," he said.
The suburban St. Louis woman underwent surgery to repair her pelvis last Wednesday, and is doing much better now, her boyfriend said.
"Most of her pain is coming from her ribs at this point," he explained. "Unfortunately, broken ribs pretty much have to mend on their own. The pain is bad, but she is really, really tough and I know she'll come through this with flying colors."
Especially if someone out there in southwestern Putnam County finds her beloved Corker.
"Corker is a very sweet dog," Bailey said. "She was wearing a harness but may have chewed it off -- she hates harnesses! She's very, very sweet to people she knows or to people that are friendly to her, but easily gets startled and scared in unfamiliar situations."
The dog was riding in a kennel in the backseat of Thomas' 1999 Ford Escort when the 1:20 a.m. accident happened.
The crash popped open her cage and Corker got scared and ran, Bailey reasoned.
"As a veterinary technician myself, having looked at and in the car, her kennel, the scene of the accident and the highway -- both eastbound and westbound -- I am absolutely convinced Corker was not injured in the crash or following the crash. There are no signs that she was hurt in any way."
Corker is a small black and white dog, 12-15 pounds. She knows her name and may come if called. She's also fast and shy.
"She is absolutely not aggressive," Bailey said, "and people shouldn't be worried to approach her, though they should make any effort they can to not scare her, because she'll likely just run off again."
"We have received a real outpouring of help in trying to find Corker," Bailey said, "and both Emily, myself and our families are extremely grateful to everyone who has pitched in to help us get Corker back home."
Now they would just like to be lucky enough to be fortunate one last time.