Update 3/6/08 4:00pm

THANK YOU! to all family and friends for the prayers, love, and support that has been overflowing for our sweet MJ. It means more than you will all ever know.

Due to all the misinformation during this time of crisis- we will begin with what we know happened and what we are speculating about.

From the beginning

Wednesday- March 5th

Last contact with MJ was @ 10am with Amie on cell phone. She called to tell her that she was on the way to the office after having to stop by her house. Amie kept watching the office cameras for her arrival but never saw her, she called but no answer. She did not think to worry because it was close to lunch time. A co-worker, Kim, voiced concern around 1pm and Amie started to be concerned as well. She noticed that she was not reading emails, other co-workers were trying to get a hold of her and she was not responding to phones calls or text messages.

Now for those of you that know MJ, that is VERY unusual behavior because it was a work day and the Hyde's were in town getting ready to go on their Spring Break vacation, for her not to be reachable was a huge sign that something was not right.

Around 2pm, Amie became worried and drove to Davey's shop to sound the alarm that something was not right. She retraced her drive to work since they drove the same way and he retraced her drive to the Hyde's house. We did not find anything. Amie asked Kim to call local hospitals and they did not find anything.

In the meantime, Kim talked to Barbara’s –MJ’s boss - Barbara contacted someone she knew about what we should do about finding MJ. They had connections to the Memphis police and an officer arrived to the office around 2:30 or 3:00 to talk to Amie who was told to head to the office ASAP. When Amie arrived, the officer was on the phone with Davey getting details on MJ. He called his Lieutenant after talking to Davey and was on the phone with him while he was questioning Amie; he was also on the radio with Dispatch having them search the local hospitals looking for her.

Long story short – the Memphis Police did a terrific job locating her; Amie was told by the officer at 3:05 that she was at the Med listed in serious condition but was upgraded from critical. Davey arrived at the office and John Pontius drove them to the Med to see her. She was listed as ‘Unknown Tra213” not as Mary Weakes which is why we did not find her when we called the hospitals. The paramedics were more concerned with saving her life than who she was. Thanks to the Memphis Police for sending help…but we still aren’t sure why the tags weren’t run to find out who she was; it does not matter now though. It looks as though she got there around 11am.

Amie then started contacting family members and the first person she could find was her aunt Jane and Jane spread the word to the family. When they got to the Hospital, MJ was highly sedated and we were greeted by all kinds of doctors telling us what test that were ran and what they were going to do. It was all overwhelming to them so Amie called Jane (who was a flight nurse for Vanderbilt) and she consoled her saying that MJ was in the perfect place and everything they were doing was normal.

She arrived at the Med at 11am and Davey and Amie arrived around 3:15.

Many rumors and still many unknowns about the accident. John and Amie went to site and went to see car Thurs am. Davey and Cindy passed on that trip. It looks as though she was exiting I40 onto Riverside Dr. She was in Miata with top down. We “heard” she did not brake and seat belt not on. John thinks per site visit-that is not true. He saw brake marks and she would have been ejected with no belt on. We “speculate” she released the seat belt to try and get out-even though she was unconscious? We also do not think she had stroke as rumored. We think it was a cell phone or some other distraction??

MJ is now on NITU Neuro Intensive Trauma unit. Davey, Cindy, Amie & John were able to see her at 9am visitation. She is in a sedated coma, on a ventilator and not aware we are there. We talk to her and love on her. It is very tough to see her this way. Bolt and tube coming out of her forehead and other tubes here and there. Still bloody and splint on her right ankle.

So here goes on the medical terms-forgive me medical professionals this is Cindy (sister) reporting. I will give you what is written on her white board and then give you my notes and memory of what we were told by 2 neurosurgeons this am. I am working on new scrabble terms to beat MJ in our next game. We are now at home after leaving her this am. The visitation times for family are very brief right now. 9am, 1pm, 5pm and 9pm. As soon as that changes we will let you know. Our #1 concern is her rest and recovery. We left at 11am and they were taking her to OR for surgery on her right ankle. She fractured it. They need to get in there and clean it-due to open wound also. They said she will require further surgery on that later.

The #1 critical situation is the trauma to the brain. Left Temporal Bone Fracture and Max sinus Fracture and Intravent Bleed. PRIMARY CONCERN is Intracranial Pressure. They are looking for Cerebral Profussion Pressure of 50 or more –she has 65-therefor getting blood to brain. CAT scan shows she is stable and not worse. The skull fracture is at base of skull. Air is getting in as result to that as a result to violation of the Dura-a leathery protective layer of the brain. The concern is when that heals problems can/may occur. The critical time frame is days 3-5 where Dr. said when problems would begin to show. There is a spinal fluid leak but “ok” for now. The area that is damaged is left side of brain. During exam this morning-Dr. reduced sedation to see responses. She responded to command to squeeze left hand- no response on right side commands.

The Dr’s indicated we will not know extent of what the damage to brain has done for awhile. She stated one time you guys need to take a deep breath and prepare yourselves for a long journey 6-12 months. We are in the 1^st 24 hours and do not have answers, because we do not and will not know for awhile what this will all bring to us. We do know this-she is loved by so many people-she is a fighter and she will survive and thrive from this with all our love and support!

We also feel blessed to have her in the best place she could be for this. We feel she is getting top notch care by nurses, doctors and all staff. We hope to update this at least once a day. As we can get to this and get new info, we will pass on.

Now –MJ is a Herring/Weakes and we know food is important. I am only doing this for her. We are keeping a diary of the wonderful food we are eating thanks to many of you. Today we had her favorite sandwich the Tuscan chicken ciabatta with a side or two of hummus, salad, fruit, meatloaf, pasta, asparagus, thai spaghetti and cookies.

Much Love