Oxygen.
On Friday, March 23rd, Vernon Adams was admitted to St. Joseph’s Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, California.
Vern and I spent most of the day chatting about the joys of his life, his boy Maki, his baby girl Justine and his beautiful wife Allison.
After everyone was dropped off at school and situated he headed over to the warehouse. We were meeting there to prepare our very first order of clear craft stamps. After perfecting this little shipment we decided to meet up again around 6 p.m. to head out and ride mountain bikes in the hills of San Clemente.
We rode…well…we walked up many hills and rode quickly through the downhill sections. When we made it to the top of the ridge we hung around for a few minutes. Our attention was drawn back to our families. I asked Vern what was going on at his house. He said Allie had gone for a walk, Maki was playing some video games and Justine had been robbed of her movie in the process.
He was very relaxed and seemed fulfilled. It was Friday before a long weekend.
We loaded the bikes in the van and returned to my house. Vern had a coke while I made an egg burrito. Shortly after he hopped on his prized Vespa and sputtered off into the sunset.
Around 8:30 p.m. Vern had made it from Capo Beach down to south San Clemente. He was about 2 blocks away from his loving home when a driver pulled out in front of him. According to police reports he didn’t have time to hit his brakes, there were no skid marks at the scene.
Shortly after he was picked up by an ambulance and delivered to the hospital. The accident was apparently close to a local restaurant that was quite busy. As a result the phone calls flooded in immediately.
Vernon was treated immediately by a large team of surgeons. As day one bled into day two the team was able to stabilize his mind and body. He suffered a broken pelvis, femur, arm, jaw as well as a traumatic brain injury.
You may be wondering why we gravitated to the web name “Sans Oxygen”.
I spent a ton of time with Vern throughout the week proceeding the accident. We chatted about a few of his ongoing font projects and his future plans for them. The main font project was named Oxygen. I had begun using this font in our shared Google docs. I jokingly remarked at one point that if he was going to share a document with me it better be in his Oxygen font or I wouldn’t read it. After using this font I actually felt like my eyes could breathe easier while reading. His attention to detail and precision with his font work always amazed me.
In the font world the word “Sans” is used a lot to describe different styles of type and it always comes after the font name, never before. It essentially means “without serifs”.
Immediately following the accident Vern was unable to breath on his own. Yet it is a miracle that he was never without the oxygen he so dearly needed. The medics arrived so quickly that they were able to breathe for him, providing the oxygen he could not get on his own. Upon arrival to the hospital and even up until 96 hours post accident his brain did not show any signs of oxygen deprivation.
The fact is that Vern’s Oxygen is his wife, his son, his daughter, his family, friends and…his art. He may be temporarily away from this vital fuel but they are with him.
As many of your know, Vern is a man of few (but very intentional) words. A few of the parallels struck me as quite apropos. Here are a few excerpts from his personal blog.
On November 7, 2013 Vern wrote…
Work on Oxygen has been many steps forward but even more steps back. Finally reaching the stage (close) where it’s possible to imagine the fonts functioning well for their intended purpose. The final stages will include a lot of super-tweaking, to get the fonts as pixel perfect as possible…
And again he alerted the world…
Oxygen Sans Progress – new release coming!
Breath deeply my friend, we’ll see you soon.
Chris Adams (friend of Ol’ Vern)
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All the “other” Adams families prayers are with you, Vern and Allison. God has a miracle for all of us and we are praying for all of your beautiful family. Ron and Kathy Adams
Thank you for sharing this with us. Continuing to lift him and the family in prayer.
While I don’t know Vernon or his immediate family, I have been moved by the powerful response his story has generated… Not the story of this horrible accident, but the story of his life, loves, and faith! I am keeping you all in the forefront of my thoughts, sending energy to sustain the movement that Vernon and family & friends will need to continue in the journey towards healing.
Chris this is beautiful…i feel so close to you and my brother reading this. My brother has found a true friend in you (soul mates), i wish i had met you when i was in California last August.Vern will always be my baby brother.Thankyou for being there with him day and night, when i cannot be . I have always been able to be there for him , to protect him, talk to him…but now when he really needs his big sister i cannot. Thankyou again for everything, for being his friend,and for the support for Allison, who has so much to do and think about…..day by day…yes it is day by day..but from over here it feels like hour by hour.thankyou vernon’s friend xx
Thank you for creating this site….and your informative and encouraging post. I can only imagine the magnificent witness of faith and God’s love that is taking place at Mission Hospital. Just breathe His breaths of healing.
Hi Chris! I know this blog is meant as support to me but I just read your beautiful article and just wanted to say how much your attention to all the details means to me…and will to him. There is a friend that is closer than a brother, apparently. Love you!
I met Vernon and Allison on a sun shiney afternoon in a bar, in Reading. Allison wanted to make friends because I was breast feeding and had a large glass of red in my hand. Vernon sat quietly drinking his cider, obviously a man of few words…. That was ok cos Allison had many 🙂 We shared many wonderful suppers and we will share many more. They moved to California we moved shortly after to eastern Canada (road trips are being planned). One of my most profound experiences as a homeopath was shared with Vernon, it was a truly cosmic event. Right now I reckon he is magestically soaring the astral planes as a bird of prey waiting for the moment to return to his body, by the fine silken thread that joins body and spirit. I sit here sending him his magic information medicine, willing him back to us.
Chris, thanks for this. It’s fills in so many of the gaps for all of us. And it helps us to live every moment through your writing, leading up to the accident. You are truly a good and faithful friend for Vern. You’ve been a rock just being there at the hospital all these days. You are a good man.
I am praying for Vernon’s healing and recovery, as well as some measure of peace for you, Allison and Maki, and the rest of your family as you deal with so many serious things right at the end of the school year. Our hearts are aching for you. I hope that this summer brings good health, peace and happiness to all of you.
Jennifer Mansoor (BAMS – Guidance Secretary)
oh thanks so much for checking in and praying for us. Thanks to you and the staff at the school for being so understanding.
Allison, we check for updates here regularly and continue to pray for you, the kids, and especially Vernon. Evera’s prayer, “Lord, just touch his brain so he can wake up and feel better.” We agree. Amen.
thanks Hyatt. Evera’s prayer is amazing! and you can tell her its working…
“His body broken for me.”
I guess it’s natural to come to communion focused on the blood of Christ. That wonderful gift. Shed for me. How can I not worship without always giving thanks for the new birth, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the anticipation of seeing Him some day, not to mention many people I also look forward to seeing again.
But what about “His body broken for me.” While his blood paid the price for my sin and provided spiritual rebirth, he never forgot the needs of my body. By his strips I am healed. In fact everything I need in the physical he has provided. Healing, renewal and rest, not to mention the bountiful harvest I’ll enjoy at my table tonight.
He is faithful. We can trust Him. He loves Vernon. He is watching over Vernon. Praise to you Father. May Your healing touch manifest for all to see. Amen
Vernon – I know you can hear these written words as my mind is open to yours – we are connected as I can see and feel all the fusing and flashing lights going on in your head, trying to reconnect and fuse the right wires to each other, I know you know what is going on, you are not in a confused state, which sounds like a contradiction, you just need more time to make sense of it all, and when you do, you will open your eyes – you will be completely lucid, but you will remember the times when the lights were in conflict, and you will use the experience to further develop your ‘sans oxygen’ theory – BLESSED BE my dear one – come back to your family soon, much love Yani x
I met Vernon very briefly. We were in touch a few years ago about the possibility of me doing a kind of apprenticeship with him. He was very supportive and encouraging, but eventually we lost touch. It is only now that I stumbled into this site and learned of Vernon’s situation. It breaks my heart to see the difficult times he and his family must be going through, and send my thoughts and wishes for peaceful times and continuing recovery.
Thanks for writing, Kg. 🙂 I haven’t been on top of linking his sites up as I should have. I wonder how you happened to find us. I’ll mention your visit when I go see him tomorrow? Anything else I can jog his memory of you with?