An Eye-Opening Accident

"Life is precious." I never quite understood the power behind those words until Saturday, July 25, 2016. My boyfriend was driving me to a bridal shower because we were behind schedule from coming home from a family camping trip and stopping at the Tomah Tractor Pull. We were navigating a hilly, curvy road that we had traveled a couple times before and we were driving a little fast. My boyfriend recognized the corner that we were approaching as a sharp one, and said "Shit, sharp corner" and he slowed down. Just as we had made it into the corner, we saw the most terrifying scene of our lives. We were the second vehicle at an SUV versus dump truck accident. It did not look good at all, and I immediately jumped out of the car. I told my boyfriend to park the car along the side of the road. There was one man walking around, he was the first one on the scene and I yelled to see if anyone had called 9-1-1. He said that he had not and that I should. I immediately called and tried to explain what I was seeing with a shaky voice. The first man on the scene asked my boyfriend if anyone had CPR training as he had tried to find a pulse but wasn't sure if he had found one. My boyfriend proudly boasted that I was CPR certified and called me over. I handed my phone off to the first man on the scene and let him describe what he knew about the accident. I searched for a pulse, but was so full of adrenaline that I was unable to determine if what I was feeling was really a pulse, or just the feeling of my own heartbeat in my fingertips. After checking on that person, I moved on to the next who was alert, responsive, and in a lot of pain. A group of dump truck drivers that travel the road frequently gathered around the man and talked to him and did their best to make him feel better.

Being CPR certified makes accidents like this surreal. You've been trained for this, but you never expect to actually be thrown into a real-life situation. You do your best to stay calm, and you don't think. You just do. It's like in the videos that they show you where the people proudly boast, "I didn't think I would know what to do if I was ever put into this type of situation, but once it actually happened my training took over and I just knew." It's very true, you don't think about what you should do. You already know what to do, and while you think your brain has shut down in shock, your body takes over and follows your training.

I praise God every day that I think back to that accident and thank him for reminding us that the corner was sharp and that we needed to slow down for it. I don't want to think about what could have happened if we didn't slow down for that corner.

That day opened my eyes and scared me, but more importantly it made me excited to become a nurse. My deepest sympathy goes out to the family of the gentleman that passed in that accident. My heart broke for you, and I cried for you. My thoughts go out to the gentleman that survived as he will probably be haunted by that day for the rest of his life. I am thinking of you each and every day. I am training to be a nurse, to take care of you and your family. I will feel what you feel and I will think of you long after you have left my care. I look forward to becoming a nurse, and I appreciate being given this experience, as heart-wrenching as it was.