Until about 11 months ago, Ericka Gorremans described herself as the kind of mother who danced with her kids and made dinner every night.
She spent her days taking care of the children of her siblings, earning a stipend from the state for doing so. Her 6-year-old nephew, Henry Babitzke, was living with her, sharing a room with her son Clayton Andison, who is now 11.
But on Feb. 28, the life Gorremans knew changed when a car headed south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 collided with her 2008 Nissan Altima. Henry, the son of her closest sister, died from his injuries.
While her family continues to grapple with the loss, Gorremans said she’s trying to deal with the other ways the crash has changed her life.
Because she fractured her hip, crushed her hand and suffered a concussion, Gorremans is less mobile. She mostly uses a wheelchair to get around while she relearns how to walk. She takes 21 pills a day for the pain, which she said is constant. She has undergone five surgeries and has one more scheduled. Doctors have told her that they aren’t sure about her long-term prognosis, except to say that she won’t be the same.
Clayton’s tibia was fractured in the crash, and though he can walk now, he will never be able to play sports because a re-injury could make things much worse.
Through it all, though, Gorremans said her family has grown stronger.
“It brought us all closer,” Gorremans said in a recent interview with The Columbian, the first time she’s talked publicly about the crash. “You realize how short life is.”
The day of the crash, Gorremans, Henry and Clayton spent the morning in Forest Grove to visit some friends and put flowers on Gorremans’ mother’s grave.
By the early afternoon, she piled the kids in the car to head back up to her La Center home to get the two boys ready for a church retreat.
She only made it 4 miles south of Ridgefield.
“It happened so fast,” she said. “I don’t even remember seeing the car come at me.”
Washington State Patrol said the driver of a 2005 Toyota Avalon, Gage Musgrave, entered the highway going the wrong way from the Gee Creek Rest Area and traveled a mile in the left lane, passing several wrong-way signs. Multiple 911 callers reported the car, and some northbound vehicles darted out of the way. Gorreman, however, wasn’t able to react in time, and the cars collided. Both cars spun, and the Avalon was briefly airborne before they both came to rest.
Gorreman, Henry, Clayton and Musgrave were all rushed to area hospitals. Henry was pronounced deceased at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.
Immediately after the crash, troopers interviewed Musgrave in the hospital. He told investigators that he had been heading north on I-5 to go home from a doctor’s appointment at The Vancouver Clinic on 87th Avenue but overshot the 179th Street exit to his house.
“He doesn’t remember what happened, he just said he missed his exit,” Trooper Will Finn said. “He was unaware of where he turned around, the next thing he remembers was the crash.”
Then, Musgrave told troopers,”‘havoc broke loose, it seemed like.'”
Investigators never got the chance to re-interview Musgrave, 84, because of his declining medical condition. He died two weeks after the crash.
The only thing Gorremans remembers from the crash is waking up amid the wreckage.
“I remember it took all my strength to grab my son and my nephew’s hand, and I said, ‘I love you to the moon and back,'” she said. “They both said I love you too.”
Clayton said that he remembers first responders getting the glove box off of his knee.
“I was hurting a lot,” he said. “They kept me awake the whole time, but I was tired.”
While Gorremans and her family settle into their new life, what continues to bother her are the lingering questions.
“I have no hard feelings toward him. … I just want answers,” she said.
Musgrave’s toxicology reports said he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Because of federal health privacy laws, troopers can’t reveal why Musgrave was at the doctor’s office earlier that day.
“I don’t know, I’ll never know, I’ve come to terms with that,” Gorremans said. “He was confused, I’m sure.”
Gorremans said that she plans to push for stronger laws that aim at requiring driving tests once citizens reach a certain age, and laws aimed at keeping drivers with impairing medical conditions off the roadways.
Currently, there is nothing in state law that restricts driving based on old age. Washington does not require physicians to report medical conditions to the Department of Licensing.
There is, however, a way for citizens to request that a potentially unsafe driver be retested, putting the onus on friends and family.
Gorremans said she’s not sure exactly how she’d like to see the law change, but she has been in contact with Sen. Ann Rivers’ office and plans to follow up after her surgery.
“I don’t want this to happen to someone else’s family,” she said. “I’m not the type who gives up easily. I’m going to fight for my nephew.”
