A Heart Wrenching
Sound
The call came across the radio at about 10:30 pm.
My husband was watching TV and I was working on my home page. After hearing
the call, my husband came in and told me, "I've got to go there's been
a wreck. A car is over turned with people trapped inside". Rushing out the door, he didn't even take time to pick up his fire department issue radio.
My two oldest sons were at a football game and the
first thing that came into my mind was, God please let them still be at the game. Since it was almost time for the game to be over, I couldn't help but worry that maybe one of my boys had decided to leave early, and it might be him in that overturned car.
I picked up the radio and listened for something
to be said that would tell me that it wasn't one of mine in that car.
I heard them call for the rescue truck and then for lifeforce, the
helicopter that was only called in when the injures were life threating.
I knew it was bad and the more I listened the more worried I became.
I heard one of the medics advise the hospital that
there were two victims, both around 19 to 20 years old. That made it even worse for me since my boys were about this age.
They had one boy out of the car, but the other was
still trapped inside. From what was being said on the radio, I knew
that they were both in real bad shape and I could only sit, and listen,
and pray.
They established a pickup zone at a nearby school
where the helicopter was to land. I listened carefully as the people
on the radio gave instructions and kept the hospital abreast of
the situation. One of the medics called to ask for the
estimated arrival time of lifeforce. His voice sounded real
desperate.
The first ambulance took the boy that was out of
the car to the school. The ambulance driver called the hospital to
let them know that they had arrived at the pickup, and in the
background I heard a young man screaming in terrible agony. My heart
went into my throat as I heard that young man crying and screaming.
My mothering instincts were tearing me apart as I wished I could
somehow reach through the radio and take that boy into my arms and
comfort him.
The heart wrenching sound of his screams echoed in my ears over and over again.
Even if it wasn't one of mine, it was someone's son and he was hurt real bad.
I began telling myself that it couldn't have
been one of mine, because I would have heard something by now if it was. After all, my husband was out there and I was sure that he would have had someone to call me if it were one of my boys. But however unlikely it may have been, I could not stop worrying.
The other boy was still trapped in the car and the helicopter was getting closer. I wondered if they would have to leave without the second boy if they didn't have him out by the time lifeforce landed. Oh Please God let them get him out and let them both be Ok, I prayed.
Holding the radio even tighter, my nerves were on end as I thought about how those boys, less than an hour ago had probably been laughing and cutting up
and talking about things like what they were going to do tomorrow.
And now there they lay screaming in agony and for them, tomorrow may
never come.
I wanted to get in my car and go find my boys and
make them leave their cars where they were and come home with me. If
my six year old hadn't been sleeping soundly in his bed I would have done
just that, but then I was being crazy wasn't I? Yet I couldn't help
thinking about it. And like a knife twisting in my heart, the boy's
screams kept echoing through my head.
Finally a voice came across the radio saying that they had
the other boy out. I let out a small sigh of relief, but then I
remembered that just because they had him out, it didn't mean that he
would live.
The helicopter landed and both boys were put on
board. As they took off the pilot got on the radio and told everyone
that they had done a fine job. It was over for the emergency
personnel that had worked this accident, but for the families of the
two boys it had only just begun.
Both my sons arrived home safely only minutes
after the helicopter took off. I told them of what I had heard and
how it had made me feel. I begged them to think about it and to
please try to be careful drivers.
When my husband got home, he told me what I had
already sensed, that the first boy probably would not make it and
that the second boy's chances weren't much better.
Hearing that boy screaming had affected me deeply.
But for my husband who not only heard the boy, but had actually been
one of the ones who helped get him out and then load him into the
ambulance, it was something that will torment him forever.
He explained to me what he was feeling and how
senseless it had been and then he asked me to write this, so that
other parents might read it and get their children to read it.
The speedometer on the car was jammed at ninety
miles an hour. The boy driving had lost control of the car in a curve
and when the car left the road it took out two small trees before coming to
rest on it's top. Why people, especially young people feel they need
to drive so fast is something I will never understand, not when it
could mean the difference between life and death.
____________________Please
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Slow
____________________Down!
What I have written on this page is
not a story. I wrote this page while I was still feeling the terror
of having heard a young man screaming out in such horrible agony,
that words could not even begin to describe. It was my husbands idea
for me to do this page because, as he put it, he was tired of the
senseless deaths of these young kids. We both hope that this page
will make a difference to someone, somewhere, and perhaps save a
life. I only wish that I was a better writer so that I could make you
feel what I felt, because then you would understand.
Thank You
memomme@yahoo.com
If you are interested in preventing accidents like this one, please talk to your children often. It just might make a difference.
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