Gift or Tragedy?

Gift or Tragedy?
- by Carol Gino

The weirdest thing happened Saturday morning!
Saturday was my birthday....
Seven a.m. that morning I found myself sitting up in bed, wide awake, and before I knew what was happening, I found myself automatically getting dressed, even lacing my sneakers. Seven in the morning is really early for me, so it was odd. I usually go to sleep around 3 in the morning, and get up about 10. And usually, I'm slow to get ready to face the day.
But Saturday, at about 7:10, my consciousness suddenly shifted dramatically, (I thought somehow I had taken the wrong morning medications) but within the next 5 minutes I heard a terrific crash which rocked the house. Without thinking, I ran outside, across the lawn, over the fence and wound up at the scene of the worst car accident I ever saw.

One man was very dead, split in half by his seatbelt I think.
After I took his pulse (got none) held the dead man's hand for a few seconds and said a quick prayer for his soul, I ran over to the other car in which there was an unconscious kid (about 21) who was barely breathing with an obstructed airway because his head was pulled back between the front seats. On the seat next to him, placed perfectly, there was a yellow legal pad with the awkward penciled writing of a child.
There was a woman who had arrived before me already holding the young man's hands and soothing him, telling him, "Hang in there, someone will be here soon," over and over again. She must have come from one of the nearby houses. But she seemed to know what she was doing.
She said, "He needs to be suctioned."
I didn't hear any rattling of mucous, just a blocked gasp for breath. I said, "You'll have to lift his head because his airway is obstructed". (I think he broke some neck bones...) His eyes rolled upward.
She said she was afraid to move his head. He was holding tight to her hands and I couldn't reach him because the other door was sealed shut...so I tried to open the hatchback..and climb in so I could lift his head from behind.

Suddenly, I turned, and saw, walking down the middle of the street, a man in a brown plaid sports jacket and slacks. He walked over to the dead man, first and I said, "According to his pulse, he's dead." Then, shaking his head, he came walking toward us. I asked, "Are you a doctor?" He nodded his assent. (Something in the lack of horror in his demeanor clued me in) Of course, he also could have been an angel.
So I told him, "This kid needs his head moved; he can't breathe..." I felt like I just kept saying the same thing over and over..but it was without the urgency I felt was appropriate.
The doctor said, "I don't really want to take the chance of moving it because of the cord..." I said, "If you don't, we'll lose him..."
He looked at me and I could see compassion in his eyes and the understanding that what I'd said was true.
I said, "If you're worried about your license, I'll do it...I'm a nurse."
He said without defensiveness, "No...I'll do it."

The passenger door was stuck shut by the impact of the crash. And so the doctor stomped and kicked on that door and finally managed to pull it open...he reached in and carefully moved the kid's head a bit...and I could hear the young man moan.
I touched him. He was cold and clammy, and shocky. I pulled back the blanket that the woman had put over him to see if he had crushed his chest but I couldn't feel any broken ribs and I didn't see any blood.
The woman holding his hands said as a plea into the wind, "His pupils are fixed and dilated." And as a prayer, "Please hurry." (I knew she meant if he didn't get some oxygen soon, his brain would be mush... or he would die).
I reassured, "It doesn't matter..." I figured if God was going to provide a nurse, and aide and a doctor at the scene, within twenty seconds of the crash, he was probably going to save the kid's life and insure he survived!
By then the police were arriving and so was an ambulance...I didn't stick around (which is unlike me) I just walked back into the house.

Three hours later, the fire and police crews were still cleaning up.
I asked a policeman what had happened to the young man. He told me they had airlifted him out to the closest University Medical Center, and last he heard he had gotten through surgery....and the doctors felt he was going to make it.
I thought about this all weekend, wondered what I'd learned from it, and when I figured it out, I knew I wanted to share it with all of you. I guess the reason is, that often we don't see how spirituality applies in a practical way to everyday life.

The lesson....:
I think the lesson was in "trusting" and "surrendering." Even while I was getting dressed I wondered why - but didn't let it stop me. When I was moved to run out the door, I just knew I had to go. When I got there, I did my part, and watched the dance as everyone else did theirs. Then I left without feeling as though I had to stay longer.

The Learning....:
We're never alone. There's some kind of spiritual vibrational volunteer network (like a volunteer fire department) who seem to be able to jump into action when they are called....And angels and spirits call whenever they need our help with physical intervention.
We don't have to do it all. Just our part. Each of us there served in a small way, together it made all the difference. I know if the boy's neck wasn't straightened, he would have died right there. I said it, and the doctor did it. And the woman offered the boy hope and reassurance. I was grateful to be able to hold the hand of the man who had died, say a prayer and speed his spirit toward the Light. Even though it was "All Soul's Day," and according to Catholic mythology, those who die on that day have a special pass to "heaven."

It was his deathday, my birthday, and I was reminded again, with special emphasis that, "In the midst of Life, there's death." That was the present that Spirit gave me. And it made my day especially precious.

Gift or Tragedy?: Follow Up

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