Ayden Smith, 5, finished his supper Tuesday and, with a little penmanship help from mom, scribbled a note and handed it to his dad, resting on a couch.

“I love you so much,” Ayden’s message read.

Ayden is lucky to have his dad around. Francis “Frankie” Feeney, 25, of Hollis, was seriously injured in a single car-crash Sept. 30 that claimed the life of his 19-year-old brother, Daniel Perrin.

Feeney has no memory of the crash. According to Maine State Police, Feeney was driving a 2005 Pontiac G6 on Killock Pond Road in Hollis at about 2:30 p.m. Sept. 30, with his brother in the passenger seat, when he lost control and veered off the road, striking a large rock, utility pole and a tree. Both were thrown from the car, which was totally destroyed. In a report, Trooper Scott Duff cited speed as a likely cause of the accident. Duff could not be reached by American Journal deadline for additional information.

With the holidays approaching, the families of the two men are still struggling with the costs of the accident – emotional, physical and financial.

Daniel Perrin left a girlfriend, Ashley Rowe, who is pregnant with their third child, a son, due in February, and two young children, Kassidy, 3, and Brayden, 2.

The children don’t understand where their father is. Their grandmother, Wanda Perrin, has told them that he is in heaven and is now a star in the sky. At night she brings them outside so they can talk to him, tell him they love him and miss him.

“It’s hard,” Feeney said about coping with the death of his brother. “I take it day by day.”

Feeney suffered six broken ribs, a fractured vertebrae and his jaw was broken in three places. He has a 14-inch rod in his left leg and a 4-inch rod in his hip. His right leg has a steel plate with 17 pins.

“I’m in a lot of pain,” Feeney said Tuesday.

Feeney, who was in critical condition, in a coma and on life support, is now recuperating after a long battle.

“He had so many injuries,” his wife, Melissa Feeney, said Tuesday. “I thank God for taking care of my guy.”

He was discharged from the hospital on Oct. 28 to a rehabilitation clinic, but checked himself out hours later. “I’d had enough of hospital beds,” he said.

After using a wheelchair for four weeks, he is walking with crutches now. He goes to physical therapy in Waterboro.

With bills mounting and Christmas approaching, both the Feeneys and Perrin’s family are facing financial difficulties. Feeney was uninsured and spent a month in the hospital. He had just started a new job as a laborer at Gorham Sand & Gravel at the time of the accident.

“He had worked only a few days, so there was no health insurance,” Melissa Feeney said.

Maren Washburn, the grandmother of both young men, said just the bill for being in intensive care was $8,000-$9,000 a day, and Feeney was there for three weeks. One bill the family has received already was for anesthesia during one of his surgeries – $5,900.

Rowe works part-time at Big Lots, a discount store in North Windham, earning only about $200 a week. Her children cannot receive Social Security benefits because at only 19 Daniel hadn’t worked long enough to get them, according to Wanda Perrin, the mother of Feeney and Perrin.

Perrin said Rowe lives with a member of her family in Gray and travels to Windham for work and to Gorham, where her two children stay with their grandmother, Wanda, much of the week.

“Gas is killing her and her car is dying,” Wanda Perrin said.

Except for a few donation jars, there’s been no public effort of support for the family of Daniel Perrin. “Something needs to be done for her and her children,” Wanda Perrin said.

Just when it would seem things couldn’t get any worse, Wanda Perrin was diagnosed with cancer last week and has begun radiation.

“Our family has had nothing but bad luck since Sept. 30,” Wanda Perrin said.

It was Perrin who called Melissa Feeney that day to tell her about the accident. Melissa drove to Maine Medical Center in Portland, not knowing what to expect. When she arrived at the emergency room, she saw a bone sticking out of her husband’s leg.

“He was yelling and screaming,” Melissa recalled. “I told him to think about Ayden and he’d calm down.”

Feeney does not remember the accident and its traumatic aftermath, but he said he can’t imagine what his wife went through. When he awoke from a coma two and a half weeks later, he didn’t know where he was.

“I had my faith. I knew he’d be OK,” Melissa Feeney said.

The family received a tremendous amount of support from the community. Benefits were held for the family in Buxton and Hollis.

People called the Feeneys, visited him in the hospital and sent cards, which fill a bureau drawer. Feeney spent a lot of time on the phone with Bob Nadler, a member of the Life Church in Gorham, where the Feeneys were married in July.

“He was on the telephone with me all the time and pulled prayer groups together,” Melissa said.

Frankie and Melissa Feeney were best friends during their high school days at Bonny Eagle. She graduated in 1999 and he in 2000. They live with her parents, Bruce and Tracy Johnson.

During the holiday season, the tragedies will be more difficult for the families to deal with. Cathy Feeney, Frankie Feeney’s stepmother, said, “It’s a tough time of year” to lose one member of the family and have another seriously injured.

The two families are struggling to survive.

“You try to carry on with day-to-day life.” Cathy Feeney said.

A Closer Look:

Those wishing to help Frankie and Melissa Feeney can send donations to the Feeney Family Benefit, Sanford Institution for Savings, 254 Long Plains Road, Buxton, 04093.

Those wishing to help the Perrin children can send donations to Wanda Perrin, 457 Ossipee Trail, Gorham, 04038.

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