I enjoy my job as a paramedic/EMT. I enjoy meeting and serving the public, enjoying the variety and excitement that my job often brings. However, the job is fraught with stress beyond compare, having to deal with human suffering, death, and heartbreak; that is life when one is a paramedic/EMT like I am.

One of the hardest things to deal with is when children are involved in accidents or seeing children with chronic health problems that sometimes warrent emergency medical treatment in order to save their life.

Such is the case of one particular young lady named Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, whom I have grown fond of over the years. Ronee' is now fourteen, but she and I go back a long way. She has had a long-standing history of asthma and allergies; there have been many times where her breathing was seriously impaired. We have gone on many runs to try to help her. At any given time  through the years we could be counted on to make a call to this young lady's house for one reason or another.

Several times she was stung by a bee. For most people a bee sting is nothing more than an annoyance that causes pain, minor swelling, and discomfort, but a short time later, the incident is quickly forgotten. For Ronee', it isn't that simple. One sting from a bee (or wasp, hornet, or yellowjacket) would cause her body to react in a sudden, violent way; in a few minutes time after getting stung, she would be gasping for air, and her breathing would be severely compromised. Big, red hives would pop out all over her body, and her face would swell up to twice its normal size.

(Anaphylactic shock: An overwhelming, allergic reaction to things like food, insect stings, or dust, things of that nature.)

One sting would mean a death warrant for Ronee' if she didn't get the prompt medical care as soon as possible.

Every time we heard the call for a beesting we wondered if it was Ronee'. I dreaded those calls because I knew Ronee' Reaux quite well. She was funny, bright, and loved life; even though she  had physical disabilities, she never let her problems weigh her down.

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One time when Ronee' was seven, she got stung while playing in her yard. In her panic, she swatted at the bee; the bee, as a result, got her. Within a few minutes, she started gasping for air and breaking out in big, red hives. her mom, who is a nurse by the way,  panicked and called for an ambulance after using the Epi-Pen on her, which probably saved her life.

When we arrived at the scene, Ronee' was lying on the ground. She was semi-conscious, her B/P was alarmingly low, and she had a noticeable bluish tinge to her skin. She wasn't getting enough oxygen; we knew we had to act fast if she was to survive the anaphylaxis.

We got an I.V. line in her arm, and John, my partner, hooked her up to a heart monitor. I tried to get an oropharyngeal airway (OA) down her throat. Her throat was rather swollen, so placement of the airway was difficult at best. I called the hospital for instructions; the hospital staff told me to give her a shot of epinephrine and try to get the tube down her again. Placement the second time was successful. I kept saying in my mind, over and over, "Breathe, little girl, BREATHE!!" as I squeezed the Ambu bag.

God must have been listening because soon Ronee' started gagging as she fought the tube in her throat. Things started looking up, way up, for the little girl.

After we loaded Ronee' into the back of the ambulance and shut the doors, we went lights and sirens to the hospital. In the E.R., Ronee' was checked over by the staff, and she was admitted for overnight observation, to make sure she didn't have any lasting problems. I am sure Ronee' was confused as to how she ended up in the hospital in the first place. One minute she was playing in her backyard; the next, she found herself lying on a table in the emergency room.

She had cheated death once again and would live another day. Yet the incident, which happened nearly seven years ago, still remains fresh in my mind, as though it happened  only yesterday.

~Written by Kendall Victor Smith, Paramedic/EMT.