The story starts in a fast paced world at about 70 miles per hour. On this day, my great uncle was taking a trip from a small rural Kansas town to St. Louis. This long highway trip is an unfortunate medical necesity that is driven once per month to administer life saving treatment to his wife. This trip however was a bit different than all the ones driven in the past.
There is a bit of a back story to understanding what happened this day. My great uncle recently retired from being a heart health doctor for 50 years. It’s an accomplishment that still astounds me to this day. Some of the stories hes shared with me, about saing babies lifes through assisting over the phone, treating patients with care, and even treating me as a young baby will always stay with me. I’m sure he thought the most exciting stories of life saving care were well behind him after his retirement party. Little did he know, God, or chance, or a combination of both had differnt plans for him.
Driving along at high speeds, my uncle takes a double look. He quickly breaks the car. He tells his wife, “that was a body in the middle of the road, I know it was.” He stopps on the highway, turns around, and drives back. In the roadway was a man that had been hit. My unlces doctor training immediatly goes into effect. He dangerously parks his car in the middle of the highway to protect the body from oncoming traffic. He goes up to the man, who is still breathing and badly bleeding. He starts to administer aid whail his wife runs to the car to get any blankets and clothing to keep the man warm. Minutes later a semitruck pulls up and a man jumps out. He says “he just came out of nowhere, I don’t know how it happened.”
Numerous people on their travels start to stop to give assistance. The police show up. My unlce tells them he is a doctor and to get help immediatly. People from all walks of life show up and assist with the situation.
As the man is being taken away my uncle knows he did his best to help save his life. Would he live? My unlce didn’t know for sure.
When my uncle got back home, his daughter recounted this amazing story via facebook post. The story spread far and wide pretty quickly. Somehow, the story got to a family member of the man that was hit. They contacted my uncle and expressed how thankful they were for the help. The man had been in the hospital for about three weeks at this point and was getting ready to be released. Isn’t it amazing how people are in the right place at the right time to help with the right situation.
I would challenge you, how can you be of help to someone in your path today? Maybe it isn’t something as big as saving a life, but you never know when the time will come… maybe it will be.
I hope this true story gives you hope and incouragment to be of assistance to someone in your life.
Blessing and positive wishes to you,
Paul Stotts
DOC #93319
This is a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing it!