In the hours after the car accident that nearly shattered her youngest daughter, Diane Warnecke had been told to expect some movement, some alertness from Nikki the next morning.
Two weeks later, Diane was still waiting.
A brain injury had put Nikki into a non-induced coma, and the other damage wreaked by a driver under the influence had lacerated organs, fractured her hip and left her in pain but unable to receive some medication. Unable to get a thumbs up, a smile or other responses from her daughter, Diane often went alone to the chapel at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center to pray “out loud” for something other than silence.