Ryan's First Helicopter Ride

Wow! What a night! It started out like any other Friday night. I dropped the kids off to do some skiing and snowboarding and we went out to dinner. At 9:02 all normalcy ceased. I got a call on my cell phone that Ryan had an accident on his snowboard and that they needed me in the ski patrol hut. Having skied for 35 years and knowing Ryan, I figured everything was fine, but he was just shaken up. After arriving there, I still had that feeling that he had the wind knocked out of him and was scared and maybe he had done some damage to his ankle. They checked him out and explained some stuff to me and then told me I needed to have him checked out. We made sure he would have room in my mom's SUV when all of a sudden they told me they were calling 911 to have him transported. They explained their reasoning - his belly was swelling and they were afraid he may have some internal injuries. Fine. I still didn't panic. The squad arrived and they tried to get him calm, hooked him up to an IV, and kept a close eye on his vitals. They got me situated and strapped me in the front seat as we got ready to make the run to Hillcrest. I told Marty to meet me there and that's when things went horribly wrong. Ryan couldn't feel his arms. He couldn't lift them and couldn't wiggle his fingers. Stilll, I didn't panic because I knew he had worked himself into quite a frenzy. The next words from the paramedic's mouth was, "We're calling LifeFlight." My head spun around on my head and I know my look turned to sheer terror. They expained to me that they were worried about the fact that he couldn't feel his arms and his vitals were spiking. That's when I called Marty and told him to get up to Alpine NOW. Marty arrived and he was a basket case. Maybe it's because I handle these types of situations better or maybe it's because I had been there while he was still in the ski patrol hut, but when Marty saw Ryan strapped to the board and them putting an IV in his arm, he lost it, as did Amanda. She was crying and telling me how she wanted her grandfather. God knows I was thinking the same thing and I knew he was up there watching out for all of us.

I was cleared to ride in the helicopter and we were gone within minutes of it touching down. The 5 guys on board were great as was the entire staff at the trauma center at Metro. By the time the 9 minute flight from Chardon to Cleveland ended, Ryan was feeling better and we were engaged in a game of thumb wars. The trauma team at Metro took over and did a very thorough job of checking him out and around 1:15 he was given a clean bill of health and we were able to leave. He's going to be sore today and probably for a few days to come, but he's not ready to give up the snowboard, but he will be wearing his helmet from now on!