Rescue

3-5-15

Adrenaline and pot make an interesting combination.

I heard the first scream and I assumed it was kids messing around. The second scream made it very clear that something was very, very wrong. The subsequent shrieks as I ran from downstairs in homework land became more and more blood curdling and I knew I was about to have an adventure.

I ran out the front door and found the source of the terror. A woman was standing at her car and looked to be struggling with the door. Around the car were multiple kids, all of whom were crying and yelling. From the distance I was from them, which wasn’t much, it was hard to tell what had taken place. I assessed the situation to make sure I wasn’t running into danger. I was glad to see someone else had stopped to help out because it meant I wouldn’t be entering this alone.

The woman, a young mom, had slammed her hand in the car door. The incident had resulted in a pretty nasty slice along her finger which was bleeding profusely. The kids were terrified. This was their mom who was in pain and bleeding, and let’s face it, it is scary when you see anyone have this going on. Now they were watching their mother go through this. The kids varied in age from maybe 4 to 13. The youngest was having the hardest time and was almost inconsolable.

I got the woman to sit down on the curb. I tried to get the man who had stopped to help to call 911, but both he and the mom insisted this didn’t take place. I took some time to try and talk to the kids, trying to calm them down to some degree because their screams were actually making the mom unable to relax long enough for us to check her out.

We needed supplies, so I ran home to get towels. Thankfully the boys were in the front yard and so I was able to yell out to them to grab some towels. Before I even got to the house, Bobby had grabbed me multiple towels, including one that was wet. I was impressed with how quickly he jumped to help me out with this. He kept his cool, which shows how often the boys have watched Ken and I handle things like this.

I ran back to the woman where I began to assess the injury. It wasn’t horrid, but it was a pretty nasty gash. She was in a bit of shock, but was talking and had calmed down significantly. A lot of this was due to someone taking the kids to their home in the trailer park. We rinsed her hand and then I wrapped it tightly, having her hold pressure on it. It gave her focus to do this and it allowed the man and I to make sure she was ok otherwise.

She proceeded to tell us how her whole day had been stressful. Her son had peed on the floor in his kinder class just to be funny, which resulted in multiple phone calls with the principal. The little one had been acting up all afternoon and she said it just felt like nothing was going right in her day. She went into a ramble about how all 5 kids were hers, even though she only had birthed two of them. The youngest was one who’s birth mom was never in the picture, so this woman was the only one that she knew as a mom, which may have been her way of explaining the freak out.

The man was great, talking calmly to her while I checked her hand out. We got her much more stable and after a few minutes of pressure, the bleeding had already stopped. I was worried about her going home on her own, but she was insistent, pointing out she didn’t live more than a short walk away into the mobile home facility.

The man left and I stuck with her to make sure she was ok to walk. She was so very grateful and I wished I had asked her name. At the time, though, I was just worried about her wound. Plus, I know that one of the kids was a girl in my group for the mission field trip. Sadly it meant that Bobby didn’t know her name right off the top of his head, but he thinks he knows who she is and will try to ask her today if her mom was ok.

I walked back to the house noting my audience had increased. Not only were the boys in the front yard watching me, but Sabrina had arrived and was standing with them. In addition to this, multiple neighbors were outside, mostly chatting with one another since I had shouted some updates out to everyone when I went to retrieve the towels.

The whole incident was certainly exhilarating. I was glad that I was able to help, even though I know I should have done more. I also am pleased that my boys got to watch me help someone out. I know they often see Ken handling things like that, but it was nice to be able to be the one who was the “hero”. Who knows, maybe we will inspire them in a way that will make them be those good Samaritans you always hear about that can help someone in danger. I like the idea of making a difference like that.