A very special Thanksgiving

4

416rigby

New member
Thanksgiving is special for me in many ways, but one thing has haunted me for 20 years. On Thanksgiving Day, 1992, I had the ready crew duty at the CG Air Facility in Newport, OR. The day was almost over and we were getting ready to fly back to North Bend for turkey with our families…then the phone rang. There had been a house fire, and we were told a 17 month old girl and her father, a police officer, needed to be flown to the hospital. The regular medical airplane was down for maintenance. Could we take them? Hell yeah! There was a storm coming, so this was going be interesting. When the doors of that ambulance opened, I swear that I could only see my own daughter’s face, she was about the same age. This little girl was not in good shape. Burns and a collapsed lung. It didn’t look real good.

Off we went into the darkness, all thoughts of our own families now pushed into the back corner of our minds. We took a medic with us. The whole way there I squeezed that
bag for her so she could breathe. We landed on the roof of the hospital and off they went for the care they needed. We refueled and got the snot beat out of us on the way home. There wasn’t much conversation. It affected us all. The weather was so bad by the time we got to Newport we decided it was safer to land there and drive back to North Bend in the car they kept there. When I finally walked in the door of my house after 1 AM, my kids were camping out on the sleeper sofa…waiting for dad to come home. I lost it. I crawled in between them and had a meltdown.

We got word a couple days later that the little girl was going to make it. I was elated. Her father wrote a nice letter to the CO of the air station, and I remember these words so well: “They gave up spending Thanksgiving with their families to save ours.” Wow. All these years since, every Thanksgiving Day, I say a little “Thank You” and wonder what became of her. I wondered what she looked like. Well, today I gave it a shot. I located her on Facebook. She’s alive and well and beautiful. I had a little breakdown when I saw her photo. I sent her a message and told her about that day, and that I’m happy she’s ok. Thanksgiving just got better. Remember, no matter how bad your day is, someone else is having one that’s worse.

Rick
 
Great story Rick. Thanks for sharing. In my 25 years as a volunteer Fire fighter/emt there were multiple times on Thanksgiving, Christmas, kids birthdays etc when the pager went off and I left the table for extended periods of time to help others.
Have a great holiday season.
 
Great remembrance Rick, I never minded working the holidays because of instances with some similarities as you shared. It is a constant reminder that many have days much worse than we ever imagined and when we look at our patients we see our own children, spouses, siblings, parents etc. and there are calls that we will never forget. But if we make a life better, there is no amount of money that makes the job so rewarding. (That is why volunteers do it at "for free"). As the most recent episode of Chicago Fire showed, "we have two families, the one at the station and the one at home". On holidays our families came to the fire hall and participated in a huge holiday meal together. When we come home from heart wrenching calls we hug and appreciate our families more. Since retiring, I still go back to the station house and drink coffee with my firehouse family and it is as if I hadn't left. The only difference is that when the alarm goes off, I remind them to be safe and I stay behind and close the bay doors behind them..... :cry .

(Rick, your story is additionally special because you have been able to reconnect via facebook with the young lady whose life you so profoundly changed). :thup
 
As a side note, for those of you that receive a ticket for speeding on these special holidays (or any day) from our law enforcement officers, be sure to THANK them, for doing their part to keep you safe! They don't get enough appreciation for the job they do! Thanks, Mark and your brothers and sisters in LE. :smilep

Law Enforcement's efforts in keeping many errant folks off the road sure made my job easier!
 
Thank you, Rick. The story moved me... I must have a little something in my eyes. There should be something in the English language that means more than "thank you."

Happy Holidays to you and yours,
Jim B.
 
Rick :thup :thup .

Had not thought of it for a long time but did a Thanksgiving day transport in a blizzard in central Oregon one time. A 3.5 pound premi. Typical trip to Bend would be about 45 minutes. Took us almost 4 hours with chains on all the way around. Long trip. Good outcome.

Great to hear your story. Glad you were able to reconnect and good results.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Rick-
Thanks for sharing with your friends. We are all brothers/sisters to each other. Good job, buddy.
Too bad our evening news isn't about sharing such stories. We are so glad you were able to have 'closure' by reconnecting with the "little girl."
 
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