Adams Story

Adam has been home for three weeks, now. It's been two months since Adam's accident. I'm amazed at the miracle we see everyday. Monday the doctor gave the okay to take out the feeding tube for a week. If he doesn't loose too much weight after one week we can keep it out.

We've decided it's time to tell our story.

This is a picture of the bridge where Adam fell into the creek. (Later in the summertime it makes a great swimming hole).

On June 23, 2010 our 21 months old was outside playing with an older sibling, who decided to take Adam for a walk in the stroller. The creek behind our house was damned up with boards so that it would overflow and water one of our fields. The boys stopped at the bridge to do what boys like to do, throw rocks in the water. Adam got too close to the edge, lost his balance, was sucked through the two top boards and carried several yards down the creek.

After searching for the longest 10 to 20 minutes of our lives, our 11 year old son found Adams lifeless body and pulled him out. Tom, who had recently been to scout camp, learned CPR, and proceded to do 3 chest compressions and 3 breaths. George continued to do CPR while Tom called 911.

(Here is a picture of the creek behind our house. Adam fell in just to the right of the house, on the edge of the picture. We found him near the other end of the haystack)




The emergency room team continued to try to revive our little boy for 37 minutes. There was no heart beat and no oxygen. We found out later that the coroner was there to pronounce him dead, and they were ready to cancel the life flight helicopter.

George and Blaine Ripplinger laid their hands on our dead baby's head and gave him a blessing, asking for a full recovery. Immediately following the blessing a heartbeat appeared on the monitor. It was an amazing moment for all of us!

His only response was and abnormal movement in his right arm. "Posturing", meaning severe brain damage. Later, we found out Adams GCS score was a 5 on a scale of 3 to 15; anything under an 8 is a severe injury. The life flight helicopter came and Adam was flown to Primary Childrens Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. There was only room for Adam, the pilot, and one EMT, but no one else.

Our good friends and neighbors who had gathered at the hospital agreed we shouldn't be driving that far in our distraught state of minds. After a family prayer and arrangements for the other children were made, our friend, David Driggs, drove us to SLC in our suburban. His son, Seth, drove their car down so that Dave could go straight home, and we could have a vehicle.



We found Adam hooked to many machines at Primary Childrens Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. The doctors told us he was a very sick little boy, and we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that he may never wake up. It was the longest night of our lives!

At 6:00am the next morning Adam opened his eyes and looked right at Mom, several times. We were overjoyed to see his heart still beating, color in his skin, and a moment of recognition. We remained cautiously optimistic for 2 weeks while he was in PICU. We spent most of the time on our knees, praying. His name was put on the prayer roll in 25 temples including Suva Fiji, Germany, and Taiwan. And two known prayer rolls; one at the Windham Community Church in Maine, the other at the Episcopal church in Alta, WY.

We want to express our deepest most heartfelt gratitude for all the support and service that was shown to our family during this challenging time. The hospital personnel opened the doors to their thrift store and brought us dry clothes. They gave snacks to our other children who were present, and provided us with a private room to discuss plans with our friends and family. Children were cared for. A fund was set up to help cover hospital expenses, donations were generously, and selflessly given. Laundry was gathered and washed, meals tenderly prepared, carpets were cleaned and 2 boxes of bottled fruit showed up on our doorstep.

While we were at the hospital in Salt Lake City, Georges friend asked if there was anything he needed. Jokingly George replied he could finish fixing the fence he was working on to keep the cows in. A couple days later, that friend reported about 40 men and boys came out to our farm and replaced an entire section of fence.

A simple act of service while we were at the hospital was when Adam was quarrentined to his room with a herpes infection. Two young sisters came to his room, since we had to miss church that day, and offered to sing to him. They had heard he responded well to music and came to sing primary songs to him. Adam settled and listened to their beautiful voices. Such a simple thing meant so much.

Adam had to relearn how to sit up, crawl and walk. After five weeks at Primary Childrens Hospital we brought our little boy home on July 28, 2010. The evaluations done by the Infant/Toddler program show results as age appropriate, excepting the feeding tube. His lungs are healthy, and his brain is functioning very well. He's as active as any other toddler and so happy to be home with his family.