The longtime Director of the Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce was seriously injured in a fall on Wednesday, October 4th while attending the Governor’s Conference on Tourism, and remains hospitalized at the LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville, Tennessee. The injury has left Suzanne unable to breathe on her own. She has been on a ventilator, but underwent a tracheotomy the following Monday.

Currently, the swelling from the fall has yet to subside, so Suzanne will remain unable to speak for an extended period of time while her body continues to heal from the blow to her neck and vocal chords. Suzanne would like to extend the following letter of thanks to friends and family across DeKalb County, and across the state, that have shown various levels of thoughtfulness during her recent trauma:

Dear Community Friends,

I wanted to take a moment to say a very heart-felt thank you for all of the support and prayers during my recent injury. Although I am miles away in Sevierville, TN ICU, I can feel your love from here. I am overcome with emotion as I think about all of the cards, baskets of food, monetary donations, help with travel, and personal visits that I, along with my family, have received over the past 13 days.

After my most recent run of tests, I have been told that I will remain unable to speak for many weeks to come, so I wanted to use this opportunity to share my written voice of gratitude with all of you. First, I would like to thank each one of you that took time out of your busy lives to pray for me upon hearing of my accident. Second, I am humbled and overwhelmed to know that many of you stepped up to volunteer to answer phones and keep the Chamber office open during my absence, and thirdly, for those of you that coordinated and participated in a prayer vigil in my honor at the courthouse, ‘thank you’. It still brings tears to my eyes. In addition, I would like to acknowledge and thank my friends in tourism, across the state of Tennessee, that joined together to offer lodging for my family, and came back to visit multiple times to lend a hand and a smile.

To anyone that had even the smallest part in supporting me through this challenging time, I want you to know that I have prayed for the Lord to bless you and yours. Although I have always known that DeKalb County was one of the finest places on earth to live, I now have an even greater reason to know how right I was. I hope to come home soon, and get back to work promoting the people and place that I love most on this earth.

My deepest thank you until I see you again,

Suzanne

Suzanne Williams

Executive Director

Smithville-DeKalb Chamber of Commerce

Anyone wishing to send a card to Suzanne, can reach her at the following address:

LeConte Medical Center

Patient Suzanne Williams, ICU Room 6

Sevierville, TN 37862