She wasn’t always in a wheel chair. Used to be a real good looking gal. Then one day last year I was going fishing at the local lake and she wanted to tag along – so I let her. It was spring time so I was bank fishing on the shallow end for spawning bass while she was on the deep end diving for oysters. Yeah… Yeah… I know there’s no edible oysters in a freshwater lake but she enjoyed it and it kept her occupied.
We’d been there about 30 minutes when I looked towards the deep end. I could see her feet splashin’ the surface like she’s trying to stay down there while diggin’ up a mother lode of oysters – or whatever. I went back to fishing… then shortly I glanced at the deep end again and her li’l o’l feet were barely moving. Thinkin’ there might be a problem I waded out to where she was in the deep end and tried to pull her up – but she wouldn’t come up. Stickin’ my hand under the surface trying to figure out what was going on I discovered some SOB had chunked a wore out bbq pit right in the middle of the lake. Not only that but the suspenders on my sisters bathing suit had gotten snagged on it.
I grabbed my sister n’ that danged bbq pit n’ drug’em both to the side of the lake where a passerby saw what was going on and dialed 911. EMS showed up, chunked sister in the back of the truck n’ away they went! There’s only one hospital in town so I had a pretty good clue as to where they were headed. Well I walked back to the shallow end, made a few more cast to the momma bass I’d been trying to catch, then loaded everything up n’ dashed to the hospital.
Hadn’t been at the hospital long when the doctor came out with good news/bad news. Good news – sister was gonna live! Bad news water had damaged her lungs to the point she’d be on artificial respiration fer tha’ foreseeable future. That posed a bit of a problem as my sister had no insurance or money and neither did I or anyone in my family. But I got a really good family.
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I called an emergency family meeting that afternoon. I explained to all present what had happened and that sister needed an artificial breathing apparatus. I tell you just telling this story brings tears to my eyes. Everyone in the family pitched in and we bought her the finest Coleman foot pump money can buy! Never been prouder of my family in my life – I’m tellin’ you!
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Well about a week passes n’ we get sister home hooked up to the coleman foot pump. Things are going good. But it’s not long and sister starts complaining about not being able to get around. She says she can pump – or walk – not both! Soooo… another emergency family meeting was called by yours truly!
I’m telling you we brainstormed at that meeting. All kinna ideas were proposed and rejected. Then you’rs truly came up with the award winning idea. Get’er a wheel chair, mount the coleman like I’d seen done with trolling motors on bass boats and sister would be free to roam. Once again my family made me proud by rising to the occasion and donating money for the cause. In the end I got her the second best wheel chair they had at the Salvation Army store! My sister had regained her freedom of movement. It was a touching moment in time! But after about 6 months she was getting bored – always lived an active life my sister did. Anyhow… to break the boredom she started racing school buses in the afternoon. And it wasn’t long after that I was calling another emergency family meeting but that’s another story.
We’d been there about 30 minutes when I looked towards the deep end. I could see her feet splashin’ the surface like she’s trying to stay down there while diggin’ up a mother lode of oysters – or whatever. I went back to fishing… then shortly I glanced at the deep end again and her li’l o’l feet were barely moving. Thinkin’ there might be a problem I waded out to where she was in the deep end and tried to pull her up – but she wouldn’t come up. Stickin’ my hand under the surface trying to figure out what was going on I discovered some SOB had chunked a wore out bbq pit right in the middle of the lake. Not only that but the suspenders on my sisters bathing suit had gotten snagged on it.
I grabbed my sister n’ that danged bbq pit n’ drug’em both to the side of the lake where a passerby saw what was going on and dialed 911. EMS showed up, chunked sister in the back of the truck n’ away they went! There’s only one hospital in town so I had a pretty good clue as to where they were headed. Well I walked back to the shallow end, made a few more cast to the momma bass I’d been trying to catch, then loaded everything up n’ dashed to the hospital.
Hadn’t been at the hospital long when the doctor came out with good news/bad news. Good news – sister was gonna live! Bad news water had damaged her lungs to the point she’d be on artificial respiration fer tha’ foreseeable future. That posed a bit of a problem as my sister had no insurance or money and neither did I or anyone in my family. But I got a really good family.
<O
</OI called an emergency family meeting that afternoon. I explained to all present what had happened and that sister needed an artificial breathing apparatus. I tell you just telling this story brings tears to my eyes. Everyone in the family pitched in and we bought her the finest Coleman foot pump money can buy! Never been prouder of my family in my life – I’m tellin’ you!
<O
</OWell about a week passes n’ we get sister home hooked up to the coleman foot pump. Things are going good. But it’s not long and sister starts complaining about not being able to get around. She says she can pump – or walk – not both! Soooo… another emergency family meeting was called by yours truly!
I’m telling you we brainstormed at that meeting. All kinna ideas were proposed and rejected. Then you’rs truly came up with the award winning idea. Get’er a wheel chair, mount the coleman like I’d seen done with trolling motors on bass boats and sister would be free to roam. Once again my family made me proud by rising to the occasion and donating money for the cause. In the end I got her the second best wheel chair they had at the Salvation Army store! My sister had regained her freedom of movement. It was a touching moment in time! But after about 6 months she was getting bored – always lived an active life my sister did. Anyhow… to break the boredom she started racing school buses in the afternoon. And it wasn’t long after that I was calling another emergency family meeting but that’s another story.
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