A continuation of some of the most heartwrenching cases paramadic Kendall V. Smith has ever encountered.
In the first part of this story, I listed some of the most heartwrenching cases I have ever encountered as a paramedic/EMT. Some of these cases included a little girl who had a stroke on her eighth birthday and also had suffered from numerous crises involving her breathing (she had asthma and allergies), a little boy with muscular dystrophy who was suffering from a bout of status epilepticus (the little boy in question was the brother to the little girl mentioned earlier), and a family whose six children had perished in a fire. Three of these children were triplets, and also three of these children were disabled. (The home had no working smoke detectors; and it was hard trying to locate the children. When we found them, it was too late. All but the one oldest, a boy, was unconscious, but it ended up that the little boy stopped breathing; and he ended up dying as well.)
Some of the other cases I have encountered in my tenure as a paramedic included a little month-old baby who had been severely shaken by his mother (the boy is now one year old, and he is in a home for the severely disabled; he is hopelessly brain damaged, blind, and deaf, and he will probably never learn to do much of anything; he will probably remain in a vegetable state throughout his life), a little girl, aged 4, who was brutally raped and then stabbed by her crazed father (the little girl died from her injuries a week later after this happened, and now her father is in jail for attempted rape and murder of his child), a seven-year-old girl with AIDS who was hit by a car (she died too; nobody wanted to treat her, and when we DID start to treat her, by then, it was too late), a fifteen-year-old boy who was shot by a rival gang member in front of his mother, and a little five-year-old boy who hung himself after the string on his jacket accidentally got caught on the slide as he was going down; when we got to him, he was barely breathing, and no matter how hard we worked, we couldn't bring the little fellow back.
There were other cases just as heartwrenching; but probably the hardest cases for me to deal with are those children who are terminally ill or children who are disabled, either physically or mentally. I have treated children with life-threatening diseases like AIDS, terminal cancer, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, or terminal diseases that are so rare one hardly knows what to do when they encounter a child with a rare disorder, disorders like progeria (premature aging of chilren) or spinal muscular atrophy (one of the many neuromuscular disorders that can cause death within a few years after a child is first diagnosed with it). I have also treated children with disabilities who are NOT dying, but they still suffer, and whenever I see the hurt or pain registered upon their little faces, it always breaks my heart.
I try to do my job as best and as professionally as I can, but when I deal with children such as the above, I can't help but to question God, about why He would allow such human misery and suffering; but that isn't for me to figure out. I may never know why He allows children to become sick or hurt or why He allows innocent little ones to die so senselessly, but while they ARE in need, the best thing I possibly can do for them is treat them first for their sickness or injury, and then offer them emotional support by giving them a soft teddy to hold (we have teddies in the back of our ambulances for such emergencies involving children), and we try to comfort them and reassure them that they are in good hands, even when things aren't looking at their very best.
It is always heartbreaking when we lose a child, but the miracles that can happen far outweigh the negativity often seen in a job like mine. We have seen children on the brink of certain death bounce back unexpectedly, and to my knowledge, they are still flourishing and are doing well to this day. That is probably the most gratifying thing about this job, to have a mother and/or a father (or even grandparents) call us or come up to us to thank us for saving their child's life; that makes me feel that we have accomplished in doing our job, and because of our quick action and thinking, a child's life was saved, and they are still alive today, even when things looked grim during the emergency event. Or this same child will write to us, thanking us for saving their lives and/or they will make us a picture (usually of a ambulance or firetruck or a picture of us "rescuing" somebody), and in their eyes, we are truly heroes.
In our station, we have pictures that the children have made us or letters that they have written; and we also have pictures of some of the children whose lives we have saved. To see these bright and eager young faces is a powerful reminder of why we ended up in emergency care in the first place: saving lives, especially those of innocent little (or maybe not so little) children. If we can save just one life, be it by CPR, first aid, or emotional support and caring, then we have done our job, and that is worth more than all the gold in the world, as far as I am concerned.
Karen this is a good commentary on how a paramedic must feel. There are times when we reap what we sow, but not those who are innocent, those who are victims of abuse, accidents, deafness, blindness, and diseases that come without sinning. They surely are not reaping what they sowed. We all need to be reminded that Christ suffered for what He did not sow, and Job, who did not reap what he sowed, yet he was accused of doing so.
We have to trust that God has prepared a special place for all the innocent ones who suffer.
We create our own miseries because of the sin in the world and our free will was given to us by God to choose Him over the devil. The devil jumps with joy when we put the blame on God for not taking better care of us. Our choices in life, for good or for evil, are our own. I am not aiming this at anybody in particular because we are all sinners and we reap what we sow.
it takes either a strong person, or a truly loving person, to be a e.m.t., firefighter, or police officer--you've captured the trauma, heartbreak and stress these heroes endure every day
God bless them, and God bless you for caring enough to share this touching story
A page-turning novel about a relationship between best friends that is interrupted because of betrayal , deceit, sexual promiscuity and pregnancy happens!
In the first part of this story, I listed some of the most heartwrenching cases I have ever encountered as a paramedic/EMT. Some of these cases included a little girl who had a stroke on her eighth birthday and also had suffered from numerous crises involving her breathing (she had asthma and allergies), a little boy with muscular dystrophy who was suffering from a bout of status epilepticus (the little boy in question was the brother to the little girl mentioned earlier), and a family whose six children had perished in a fire. Three of these children were triplets, and also three of these children were disabled. (The home had no working smoke detectors; and it was hard trying to locate the children. When we found them, it was too late. All but the one oldest, a boy, was unconscious, but it ended up that the little boy stopped breathing; and he ended up dying as well.)
