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Lackawanna Ambulance Stays In Good Health

First Posted: 5/17/2009

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@www.timesleader.comLaw &amp; Order Reporter
ASHLEY -Paula Ciaverella didn't know Cora Blackwell, but her heart still ached for the Township woman after Ciaverella saw news reports of the January car crash that killed Blackwell's 18-year-old son and his teenage girlfriend.

Why, Ciaverella questioned, had such a terrible fate befallen these young adults? And how, she wondered, would their parents ever recover from such a tragedy?
She had no idea that not even three months later she would again ask those very same questions &amp;ndash; this time of herself.

On April 18, Ciaverella's 18-year-old son, Mason Eckhart, was killed after he lost control of his car on Middle Road in Nanticoke and crashed into a guard rail near Luzerne County Community College.

In an ironic twist of fate, it was Blackwell who came upon the accident and called police.
Ejected from his car following the 3:38 a.m. crash, Mason, a King's College freshman, lay momentarily on the roadway and then inexplicably jumped up and ran into the woods, Blackwell and another witness told police.

Hours later, after police still had not located him, Blackwell joined with Ciaverella and others to scour the woods.

That search ended at around 9:30 a.m. with the discovery of Mason's body at the base of a hill. There was no autopsy, but it's believed he bled to death internally.

"It broke my heart," Blackwell said. "I'm walking with her in the woods, and she's calling out his name. I thought it would be a happier ending for Paula."

The ending for Blackwell's son, Kyle Eckrote, came on Jan. 29 after he crashed a car into a concrete bridge pillar on U.S. Route 11 in Plymouth Township. His passenger, 18-year-old girlfriend Courtney Engle, died a few days later from injuries she suffered in the crash.
The deaths of the three teens are among a recent rash of car crashes in Luzerne County that have claimed the lives of teenagers or young adults. Since December, eight people ages 16 to 21 have been killed.

Like other parents of young auto accident victims, Ciaverella and Blackwell are left to deal with unbearable grief as they think of the things that will never be.
Kyle will not graduate from Wyoming Valley West High School this June. He won't be taking his prized pickup truck to car shows or spending time with Courtney, whom he had dated since they were 14.

"I don't know if I'll ever get through it," Blackwell, 47, said. "You just have to bear with it and try to accept it."

Mason's dreams of becoming an emergency room doctor died with him that April night. He won't get to accept the King's College Chemistry Department's "Freshman of the Year" honor he had earned. And the near full-scholarship he was awarded by the college will go to someone else.

"It's just surreal," Ciaverella, 45, said in an emotional interview from her Ashley home. "I just can't believe he's not going to walk through that door. &amp;hellip; I miss his smell. I go and hug his pillow because I just want to breathe what's left of him. To just touch his face, to touch his hand&amp;hellip;. You're never getting that back."
Mason was the second child born to Ciaverella and Charles Eckhart. A son, Paul Eckhart, is 31. Although there was 12� years between them, the two were "inseparable," Ciaverella said.

Mason, or "Mace" as he was known by family and friends, had always excelled in school, particularly at science. A 2008 honors graduate of Hanover Area High School, he was a pre-med student at King's with a double major in chemistry and biology.

His acceptance to King's was one of the proudest moments of Ciaverella's life, she said. She never thought she could afford to send him to the school on the salary she earns as a beautician. But Mason took care of that, earning roughly $19,000 worth of scholarships.
"When he got his student ID he was showing me it, and he was mad at me because I'm crying in the hallway at the college," she said, managing a slight smile through her tears. "I went in the ladies' room to compose myself, and I came out and I started crying again. He's like, "Mom! Mom!' "

Mason was dedicated to his family and friends, she said. He doted over his 8-year-old niece, Tori.
"He was such a loyal friend and a great son. He'd text me, &amp;lsquo;I love you mom,' all the time," she said.
Blackwell's life also centered around her son, her only child.
"My heart is broken. Kyle was all I had," she said. "You do anything you can to feel better, but it's a temporary fix. You are always going to yearn for them."
For her, the pain of losing her son was compounded by what she witnessed at Mason's accident. Blackwell and a co-worker were on their lunch break at the nearby Birchwood Nursing Center when they heard the crash.

"I saw him lying on the side of the road. I was freaking out, telling 911 &amp;lsquo;please, hurry up,' " Blackwell said. "It's so ironic I had to witness that. I just wish I could have held him down and told him everything was all right."

No one knows why Mason ran. Ciaverella said she believes he suffered a head injury which may have left him disoriented.

"The cops, of course, thought they were looking for a drunk runaway. But that was not my son," she said. "I knew if my son wasn't home something horrible had happened to him."
It's unclear what caused the crash. Mason had been at an outdoor party and had some alcohol in his system, but toxicology reports are not yet back. Ciaverella thinks speed played a factor. Police estimated Mason was traveling about 45 mph in a 25 mph zone, she said.

One thing she is certain about: Mason might still be alive today if he were wearing a seat belt. The damage to his car was not very extensive, she said. Authorities say he might have survived had he not been ejected from the vehicle.
That's part of the reason Ciaverella said she decided to fight through her grief and speak about her son.

"I'm the poster-mom for seat belts. I lectured him all his life. To know he was so smart and had such capabilities but did not have the common sense&amp;hellip;" she said, breaking down into tears before she could complete the sentence.
She hopes her son's death will serve as a wake-up call to other young drivers to be more careful so that their parents don't get that phone call in the middle of the night that she so dreaded.
"You barter with God so much as a parent," she said. "You say, &amp;lsquo;Please don't let it be my child.' But at that moment of life-and-death when they're in the car, you couldn't say to God, &amp;lsquo;Please, just take me.' "
"You couldn't protect them. There is no more &amp;lsquo;Please, don't let it be my son.' It is my son. It is my son."
As she deals with her grief, Ciaverella said her goal now is to ensure her son's memory remains alive.

With the help of family and friends, she is organizing a dinner that will be held annually to raise money to create a scholarship fund in Mason's name at King's College.
"I want people to please, just remember my son," she said. "He was just an awesome kid. He was meant for so much more in life, but unfortunately it didn't happen."

Terrie Morgan-Besecker, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-829-7179.

Two mothers grieve for lost sons