Couple stuck in Spain now back in Washington weeks after crash with hit-and-run driver

A Camano Island couple seriously hurt in a hit-and-run crash while on vacation in Spain last month has returned to Washington after being medically cleared for an air ambulance that transported them to Sea-Tac Airport Sunday.

KIRO 7 first told you about Patrick and Jacqueline Myers, both 71, in July.

“Absolutely exhausted but very relieved,” said Patrick Myers in an interview with KIRO 7 Wednesday. “Very happy to be home.”

Patrick told us last month by Skype that his wife, who suffered more severe injuries, was fighting for her life after the couple was blindsided by a hit-and-run driver as they drove on the A-7 highway from Valencia, Spain, to Malaga.

Myers and Spanish media said the driver hit them at a high rate of speed and left the scene but was arrested shortly after.

Myers said his wife was not able to fly commercially because of her injuries. Both were taken by air ambulance back to Washington and then transported directly to Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett where Jacqueline is currently hospitalized.

“The doctors here have looked at everything that has occurred; all the trauma and all the work they did on her in Spain and they just are amazed that she’s in the shape she’s in right now,” said Myers.

Jacqueline’s condition has improved remarkably, according to Patrick, but she’s still battling an infection that, worst-case scenario, could lead to the amputation of her foot.

"In Spain we fought for her life, here we have to fight for the right foot,” said Myers, who told us his wife suffered injuries from her head down, both internal and external. “No one wants to lose a limb and she's healing really well."

Patrick himself had to be hospitalized following the crash and said money raised through a GoFundMe for the couple helped family from Washington be by their side in Spain.

“You’ve heard that saying, turn lemons into lemonade; here’s the woman that coined this term,” said Myers, who’s optimistic about his wife’s recovery.

“If you’re traveling in Europe for any amount of time – you are silly not to put extra money into traveler’s insurance and be covered for this because we had a million dollars coverage and we needed it to get back here,” said Myers. “We'd've never made it.”

Myers said his wife has more surgeries and rehab ahead of her and could be allowed to go home to Camano Island in five to six weeks. Both will eventually have to return to Spain, according to Myers, as the case with the hit-and-run driver moves through the court system.

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