FAMILY HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN JOB, SICK CHILD

SIKESTON -- For Robert Neal, it came down to choosing between his job and being with his sick child. He chose the latter.

Neal, 22, of rural Sikeston, says his personal experience demonstrates the importance of having a family leave law.

Legislation signed into law Friday by President Clinton provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to cope with a family sickness, childbirth or adoption.

Neal thinks it's a good idea. But even if it had been enacted earlier, Neal said, the legislation would not have helped him.

That's because it applies only to businesses with 50 or more workers.

Neal worked for a much smaller company. He was co-manager of an auto-maintenance business in Cape Girardeau.

That was before he and his family nearly drowned on the rainy evening of Jan. 4, when the car he was driving skidded off a wooden-plank, one-lane bridge on Scott County Road 450,near the family's home, four miles north of Sikeston. The compact car plunged off the road and overturned in 3 to 4 feet of murky water in a nearby ditch.

Trapped inside the car were Neal; his 21-year-old wife, Connie; their then-5-week-old infant son, Josh T.; and 4-year-old nephew, Lorne Boone Thompson. The Neals' other son, Zachary, who was 15 months old at the time, was with his grandmother that evening.

Through the efforts of a passerby, the family was rescued. But both Josh and Boone, neither of whom was breathing when pulled from the water, were taken to St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Boone was released after spending only a few days in the hospital. But Josh, who suffered collapsed lungs, remained in the hospital for three weeks, most of that time in intensive care.

A premature baby to begin with, Josh was fighting for his life. "For two weeks we didn't know if he would live or die," said Neal.

"His lungs had collapsed during the accident and during CPR and all of that," said Neal.

Josh had previously had problems with one of his lungs, which didn't open up until a week after he was born, recalled Neal.

After the accident, things looked bleak. At one point doctors indicated that Josh might die within 16 to 18 hours.

The baby boy was on a respirator. Neal said his son had a tube in the throat providing oxygen and four tubes in his chest sucking up the air that was escaping from his torn lungs.

At one point there was talk of putting the boy on an "iron lung," said Neal.

Connie spent the entire three weeks at the hospital. Neal went back to work, but he couldn't keep his mind on the job.

Neal said he needed to be at the hospital. "I had to be up there because the doctors had already asked me, if need be, should they pull the plug or not."

Neal said his employer told him he needed to be at work.

"I was forced to define priorities," said Neal, who quit his job late last month so he could go to the hospital to be with his son.

Josh's lungs improved, and on Jan. 29 he was released from the hospital. "It was just a real miracle as far as I was concerned," said Neal.

Neal is now looking for a new job. His wife had been seeking a restaurant job in Cape Girardeau, but the accident put her job search on hold.

Even when he was working, the company offered no health insurance benefits. Connie and the children were on Medicaid at the time of the accident. Connie is no longer eligible for such coverage, but the children remain covered by the government program.

Neal estimated the medical bills will total about $120,000. Without Medicaid, he said, he would have had to declare personal bankruptcy.

Neal said the deteriorating wooden planks were to blame for the accident, with a board catching one of the wheels of his car and sending his vehicle out of control.

He said the Scott County highway department should replace the bridge, which has been the scene of other less serious accidents.

But for now, Neal is just thankful that he and his family have survived the ordeal. "I am not worried about anything else," he said. "I am just glad they are all home."