Community helps family to recover after accident

Valentina Bilal woke to the sound of a hotel security guard knocking on her door. He told her they’d found her husband, Kheri, lying on the street below their balcony.

She was groggy, shocked, and didn’t believe him. Even when she saw Kheri’s body, she didn’t believe that he’d fell. And she just couldn’t bring herself to believe that his injuries were serious.

“After we got to Phoenix was when I really realized what had happened,” Valentina said. “I was in denial for the first two days, I couldn’t believe what had happened. It was pretty scary. I didn’t know what to do.”

Kheri had fallen from the balcony of the condo they were staying at in Cabo San Lucas. They were celebrating the first anniversary of their june 2011 marriage. The Bilals live in Bigfork and both work at The Raven in Woods Bay.

Kheri started working for The Raven in 2010. Originally from Zanzibar, he worked in Maui and as a mason in Whitefish before moving to Woods Bay. Valentina has covered the front of the house for The Raven since 2008, when she started spending her summers in Woods Bay from Maldova.

On the day of Kheri’s accident, he suffered a serious concussion, facial fractures on both cheeks, and broke several bones on the right side of his body.

Valentina didn’t realize the extent of her husband’s injuries until they got to Phoenix because the hospital in Mexico didn’t take the proper steps to check Kheri out.

“They didn’t do anything there,” Valentina said. “They kept him in ICU one night and then put him in a regular room and started feeding him Jell-O and soup through a straw, which they weren’t supposed to do.”

Because the couple didn’t have travel insurance, the hospital in Mexico wouldn’t release them until the bills for the ambulance ride and the treatment were paid. If Kheri’s ex-wife Sarah, who has a five-year-old son with Kheri, hadn’t helped them get the bill paid quickly, the couple might not have made it to the Phoenix hospital on time.

Once in Phoenix, Kheri underwent surgeries on his arm and wrist. X-rays showed he had suffered brain damage from the fall, although the doctors weren’t sure how bad it was.

Kheri was relegated to eating and breathing through a tube. When Kheri came out of his fog he tried to yank the tubes out.

“Just imagine you wake up and you’re breathing through a pipe,” Kheri said. “You’re like a zombie.”

He stayed in the Phoenix hospital for almost two months. Valentina said he didn’t speak for three weeks and when he finally did speak it was a whisper. And it seemed like everytime something went right, something would go wrong.

“It was really long, I thought it would never end,” Valentina said.

“They could have gave up on us,” Kheri said. “I shouldn’t be here right now, to be honest with you, they did a great job.”

During the two months the couple was in Phoenix, they were constantly reminded of how important Kheri’s recovery was to family and friends.

Sarah’s mother, Robin Anderson, came to Phoenix from Minnesota to stay with Valentina. She stayed with them for three weeks.

Sue Juhl of Bigfork has a niece in Phoenix, Valerie. Valentina said Valerie just showed up to the hospital one day and told her, “I want to help you.” It was the first time the two had met.

Valentina said Lisa and Brian Cloutier, who own The Raven, Whistling Andy Distillery and The Islander Inn, helped out a lot as well.

“Thank this community for what they did for me,” Kheri said. “A lot.”

Although Kheri can’t work yet, he is on his feet. He goes to physical therapy three times a week at The Summit in Kalispell and has exercises he has to do on his own.

The experience has made every bit of life a little more meaningful to both Valentina and Kheri.

“Human beings are crazy,” Kheri said. “You can be alive now and five minutes later you could be gone.”

“It really makes you think about life,” Valentina said. “It makes you appreciate everything.”