Why I Mentor – Meet DPS Sargent Paul Sigman

In 2002 a tragic accident almost took his life, but now DPS Sargent Paul Sigman has a life he considers much richer. And being a mentor to young boys is part of that life.

“No boy ever dreams of joining a gang, getting hooked on drugs or going to prison. Behind the macho facade of even the toughest gang member, is a good boy who just needs a man to care about him.”

Mentors are needed! Learn how you can join Paul as a mentor in Boys2Men or Men of Distinction by investing one to two hours per month. Email Jim Mustain at [email protected]

Trooper learns of God’s love through crash

Posted: 9/19/03 — TEXARKANA – A tragic accident almost took his life, but now Paul Sigman has a life he considers much richer.

Sigman, 28, had been enjoying a successful, if brief, career as a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety. He moved to Texarkana in 2001 after graduating from a police academy and rescued a man from a burning vehicle his first week on the job. That incident, along with his everyday efforts, earned him the title Officer of the Year.

Paul and Amy Sigman, with daughter Annabelle, strengthened their faith in God through Sigman’s recovery from a near-fatal automobile accident. The state trooper quotes a favorite author: “You will never know God is all you need until God is all you have.”

Last year, Sigman and his wife, Amy, started attending First Baptist Church in Texarkana at the invitation of one of his co-workers.

“I was raised a Catholic, but I had really given up on church,” Sigman confessed. “When Amy got pregnant, we decided that life was good and the Lord was blessing us. We wanted to give our child a church home. We looked for a Baptist church because Amy was raised Baptist.”

The Sigmans became regulars at the church, not only at worship, but also Sunday School, and on Jan. 5 of this year, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.

That day was a turning point in the young family’s life, but another loomed just ahead on June 17. Sigman and his partner were on patrol near Maud, driving in a torrential downpour. They had decided it was no longer safe to drive even the 20 miles per hour they were traveling and were looking for a place to leave the highway when their car hydroplaned into the path of an oncoming truck.

Both men sustained considerable injuries, but Sigman’s partner was able to leave the hospital after a few days. Sigman, who had been driving, was not as fortunate, even though the brunt of the impact was on the passenger side of the vehicle.

“The doctor told me the only thing holding me in the car was my lap belt, so my head was free to move around. The shoulder harness had slipped over my arm and shoulder. In our car, we have a steel console that is bolted into the floor. That console was ripped out of the car from the force of the accident and my head hitting it,” he said.

When the wrecker driver arrived on the scene, he had to return to his vehicle to compose himself after seeing Sigman. From his eyebrows to his nose, his face had been torn open. His sinuses were destroyed and his nose crushed. His eye was ripped in four places. His skull was fractured in so many places his brain was exposed.

Unconscious and unaware, he was taken to Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, where his wife was brought by her boss after learning of the accident.

“When I got there, he was bandaged and bloody and they would not let me talk to him because they were honestly afraid his blood pressure would rise and he was not going to survive,” she said.Sigman’s injuries were such that he needed to be transported to the trauma center at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, but the still-raging storm ruled out air transport. He made the 175-mile trip by ambulance, with his wife traveling in a patrol car right behind.

Sigman stayed in the Intensive Care Unit for several weeks, sedated and on ventilator as his body healed.

During those long days, their church family at First Baptist gave them a great deal of support. Leaving for Dallas, Mrs. Sigman had $20 in her bank account. When they reached Dallas, baby Annabelle was without formula, and her mother worried about how they were going to get by. Friends, family and DPS officers made sure that did not become a problem.

Many came to stay with her at the hospital. Others took care of Annabelle and then returned her to her mother at times to give her something to think about other than her husband’s plight.

Associate Pastor Larry Sims “came in with money from the church to help us out. That was such a surprise for Amy and such a relief,” Sigman reported. “Our church family was so wonderful. They took away the financial burden and let Amy worry about me. We could not have done it without the church’s help.”

Once Sigman had recovered to a degree, the sedation stopped and the pain began. It was a pain he couldn’t describe, but then he realized there was someone who didn’t need him to try.

“I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death. Actually, God carried me through it,” he said. “I tried to explain how bad the pain was, but I knew that a person would have to die to experience this kind of pain.

“Then one day, I thought of the pain Jesus had to go through on that cross. He suffered far worse than I did. He could have asked God to take it away, but he didn’t,” Sigman reflected.

On July 9, Sigman underwent 11 hours of reconstructive surgery at Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas. Titanium mesh and plates protect his skull and will eventually harden to bone-like structures. His vision, although light sensitive, is as it was before the accident. His recovery is expected to be complete.

Sigman has returned to light duty at the Department of Public Safety, and he has a message he wants to be heard even louder than his miraculous physical recovery.

“God’s grace and love for me are the only reasons I survived,” he said. “My heart is overflowing with God’s love. I would do it again tomorrow just to be this close to God. If people knew how much God loves us, there would not be a church big enough to hold everyone.

“One of my favorite quotes is out of a book, ‘The Purpose Driven Life,’ that Larry gave to me, and I live by these words every day: ‘You will never know God is all you need until God is all you have.’ I have got to share what God has done in my life. If the accident was the trade off, it works for me,” Sigman said.

Reported by Michelle Oubre, a writer in Texarkana

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