The Miracles Of Nigels Death

I was in tunnel vision mode. I knew Mary was breathing for him, but there was a strange man I had never seen, holding the breathing mask for Mary, while she used the bulb to push oxygen into his lungs. I kept thinking "who is this guy helping Mary?".

I got up and told Mike I would take over CPR. I stood over Nige and started. Mary and I were counting. Now this is going to sound weird, but I knew without a doubt that if I was the one doing the CPR...that my son was going to be ok. I trusted Mary with everything I had. We were working together like a well oiled machine. I also knew that Nigel's back was broken by the way his lower torso was twisted. But, that was ok. He'd make it through this and I'd teach him how to ride wheelies in a wheel chair.

The next thing I know, Sandra is there. She lays down next to Nige on his right side and with her mouth pressed against his ear, talking to him. Every imaginable sentence was coming out of her mouth. She was strong and tough. She didn't let him hear any panic in her voice, only soothing reassurances. Everything from "you're going to be ok" to "call out to Jesus" to "you're strong Nige...you can do this" to "you're not allowed to leave without our permission...and you DON'T have our permission". I even threatened to ground him 'til he was 45 if he even thought about leaving us. 

Mary and I in rhythm. Sandra talking to him. The stranger helping Mary. Twenty minutes goes by. I still KNOW that as long as I'm making his heart beat...he's gonna be ok.

Dale Hughes was driving home to Richmond when he came upon the yellow truck in the field. He slowed down for some unknown reason. (Trucks in fields are very common in this area for feeding cattle. Nothing unusual and nothing to slow down for...ever) As he got even with the truck he saw Matt's head stick up out of the weeds... and then back down. Dale jumped out of his car and ran down to Matt. Thats when he saw Nigel. They both asked him to go get help. Dale raced back to town and stopped at the Bridge Creek Cafe and got the folks there to call 911. Of course the entire cafe emptied out to go help. Our town family.

Eve McCormick and her husband were driving home to Redmond from their vacation. They were on highway 19 in their motorhome headed to Spray. At the 207 turnoff and at the last minute for some unknown reason, Eve said to her husband, "Lets take this turnoff and go home this way...we havent taken this road before and it might be pretty". As they rounded the bend at mile post 20 they saw a yellow pickup by itself upright in the field. Banged up, they thought it was a ranch truck and that someone was out feeding cows. Nothing new and nothing to stop for. They passed it and Mr. McCormick just happened to look in his rear view mirror...just in time to see Matt raise his head up through the weeds, and then dissapear again. Mr. McCormick turned around.

Matt and Nigel decided to go out to Matts house on Highway 207 to get a video game and then come back into town and play video games at Jakes house. No big deal. They had made that trip a zillion times before. They got out to Matts house, got the video game and were headed back into town. Just before milepost 20 Matt reached down to change the track on the CD they were listening to. When he looked back up, he had gone off the road about a foot. Not a big thing except there was a large rock about the size of a basketball. His right front wheel hit the rock busting the tie rod. This in turn made steering impossible. The left tie rod took over and jerked them to the left and down into the ditch where the truck started to flip, side over side into the field. Neither one was wearing a seat belt. They were both thrown out of the truck. Matt was thrown clear, but the right front wheel of the truck (with the tire deflated) came down on Nigels stomach severing his aorta and crushing his spine as well as his internal organs.

“The aorta is the main artery the size of a garden hose that runs from the heart straight down the center of the body to the groin. It carries all the blood in the body. When the aorta is severed, no one can live longer than 8 minutes."

From the time of the wreck to the time Dale showed up, it had been 15 minutes ... and Nigel was still alive and talking ... and for some reason ... he would live even longer ...

Continued on Page 3