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Paramedic Stories, Part XXV: More Miracles (By George Guzman, "The Goose"--Paramedic/EMT) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Rated "G" by the Author.
A paramedic shares some stories about some of his more memorable patients he has taken care of as a paramedic/EMT.
My partner and colleague, Kendall Smith, touched on some of the patients we have taken care of during our run as paramedics, but he neglected to mention about his wife, Rachel, who was nearly electrocuted by a lightning strike several years back. He also neglected to write about Baby Boy Hernandez, this baby who was born in the back of our ambulance while we were rushing his mother, Griselda, to the hospital. He also neglected to write about Hannah Grace Tilghman, a girl we helped rescue when she was but a toddler. (Hannah just shared her story with us; she wrote us a letter, and in it, she shared her story. She is thinking of writing a book about her life. A mighty feat, considering she is only 11 years old!)
Kendall mentioned briefly about Johnny Sandusky and his sister, Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, Mackenzie Grace Hollister, M'Buti Moore-Sormiento, and Toby Tyler (don't laugh; that is really the kid's name!), but he neglected to mention about his wife (her name is Rachel), Hannah, and "Baby Boy Hernandez". So I will share their stories with you now, just to let you know how they are faring in life.
Baby Boy Hernandez (now known as Bermilio Jose' Carlos Sanchez Hernandez--whew! His name is longer than he is!--) is now a young child of about 18 months, and he is just learning how to walk and talk. He has some significant learning disabilities; and there is suspicion that he may have cerebral palsy; but he is still a very happy baby who laughs often, and he is the darling of his family's eyes. He is the youngest member of the Hernandez Hamlet, a family that consists of father Armando, Griselda (mama), older sisters Yacinthe, Rosario, and Teresita Maria, and older brothers Raoul, Efren, and Gregorio. There are seven kids in that family, and little Bermilio is both their living Miracle Child and the pride of their household.
Hannah Grace Tilghman was a child we helped rescue when she was only three years old. She was playing near some water at a park not far from their residence, and she happened to fall in. When the family realized that she was missing (they got no response when they called for her), they got scared, so they called for help. When asked where the little girl was last seen, the family told her that she was playing by the pond. That was when the police radioed for an ambulance, as there was a possible drowning victim, a little child, at the park. Whereupon, when the ambulance came, people started searching the pond to see if they could find the body of a small child. They soon found the body: it was of a little girl, a little girl not more than three or four at the most. When she was pulled out of the water, she was blue, and she was limp. She looked more dead than alive; and soon, we were busily trying to save the kid's life, pumping her chest, and breathing for her, hoping to get some oxygen to her brain or heart before brain damage set in. It was a very close call, but eventually, at the hospital, the little girl came back to life; and she was soon in ICU, fighting for her life. She eventually recovered from her ordeal, but not without a price: she was left both physically and mentally disabled, and she had to relearn how to do everything, including how to walk, talk, and eat. She is now 11 years old, and she is walking (with braces and forearm crutches, yes, but she is still walking!), and she is doing quite well in school, where she, in light of all that she has been through, is pulling straight A's in all her classes. She is now busily involved with her church, and her goal in life is to be either an author or a gospel singer. She is doing remarkably well, and she is, in every sense, a true Miracle Child.
But children aren't the only ones who can have miracles happen to them: we have had plenty of adult miracle stories, and Rachel Phillips-Smith is but one of many. She is the wife of my partner, Kendall, and several years back, while filming some severe weather clouds, she was struck by lightning. She was going to school to become a meteorologist, and she was on a storm chase when she was struck by the lightning. She was knocked down by the force of the bolt, and naturally, as a result of the strike, she suffered both cardiac and respiratory arrest. When found by Kendall (then her friend) and some other people, her face was blue, and she wasn't breathing; plus her heart had stopped. She was clinically dead, and she needed immediate emergency attention if she was to have any chance to survive the strike. CPR and other resuscitative measures were started, and she was soon rushed by ambulance to a waiting hospital that was nearby. She was eventually revived, but she was in a coma for weeks, and she was left with some permanent mental, physical, and emotional damage. She now has severe pain in her limbs, she is now hard of hearing, she has memory problems, she has weakness and partial numbness on one side of the body, and she can't walk for long distances. She also has some speech problems, and she has trouble seeing out of one eye, and also has trouble focusing (she is often left with double vision), which, in turn, affects her balance. She can walk, but on a walker, and she can only walk for shorter trips; so she mostly uses a wheelchair. Her story isn't as successful as those of Hannah or Bermilio, but she still survived, and she continues to overcome the odds that are still placed on her. She is now pregnant with the couple's first child, and both Kendall and Rachel are looking forward to the birth of their first child. So there will be a little Smith (and perhaps a future paramedic??) in the Smith household.
We also had a man who survived after being impaled by a knife in his lower back (he is partially paralyzed, but he is walking again after doctors gave up hope on him), and we had a woman who had flesh-eating disease of the face and survived horrible deformity and is now regaining her life back. She is going to school, where she is studying to become a paramedic; she wants to make a difference in people's life, just as people have done to her, and it is a really amazing story if you think about it. We also had a woman who had the symptoms of tetanus (she is still in the hospital now, as I speak, where she continues to recover slowly from her illness; things for her are looking up each day), and we had a young man in his 30's who had a massive stroke, and he just learned how to swallow and speak only a few weeks back. He is still in the hospital, but he is slowly coming back, much to our amazement. We figured that he was a goner when we found him collapsed on the kitchen floor of his house, but we managed to get him to the hospital on time, and now he is recovering, slowly, yes, but steadily. So he is a Miracle survivor as well.
We have had lots of similar stories over the years during our job as paramedics, and it is these stories that make us want to do more for people in need. We have a service to do for our community, and whenever danger, sickness, or injury arise, we are there, and we can only hope for the best as we help these people. This is probably why I enjoy what I do, and I enjoy the satisfaction in knowing we have made a impact on a person's life because if it were not for us, they would not be here today.
We must be doing something right....Look at the picture of the little premie...that is Bermilio Hernandez when he was in the hospital, fighting to stay alive. Now he is nearly two, and he is still surprising people even now with his courage and will to live! Who says Miracles don't happen in real life? All one has to do is look at the picture of the baby, and then see him in real life; and then you will learn that Miracles can, and still DO, happen!
~Written by George "Goose" Guzman, Paramedic/EMT, on Tuesday, November 2, 2004 (Election Day; did you vote?? I did!). :D
For people who don't believe in miracles I recommend this wonderful write. A truely inspiring write. God bless these men and women.
Reviewed by Tyrone Banks
11/2/2004
these stories truly inspire those who feel that life is too difficult. just walk in someone else's shoes for a while and you'll gain a deeper appreciation for the small miracles that we overlook every day.
In "A Touch of Your Presence" are words that would inspire, encourage and strengthen one's soul when faced with challenges and difficulties and to know the awesomeness of God's power.
He Keeps Me is a devotional journey of revelation and insight birthed out of prayer.Searching the Word of God revealed the many ways that He has kept me and continues to keep me. Each day is an opportunity to recognize that God is mindful of you, eve
My partner and colleague, Kendall Smith, touched on some of the patients we have taken care of during our run as paramedics, but he neglected to mention about his wife, Rachel, who was nearly electrocuted by a lightning strike several years back. He also neglected to write about Baby Boy Hernandez, this baby who was born in the back of our ambulance while we were rushing his mother, Griselda, to the hospital. He also neglected to write about Hannah Grace Tilghman, a girl we helped rescue when she was but a toddler. (Hannah just shared her story with us; she wrote us a letter, and in it, she shared her story. She is thinking of writing a book about her life. A mighty feat, considering she is only 11 years old!)
