June 21, 2014

It is 11:29 pm and I am in total shock. This will be a day I never forget, and a day that has changed our family forever. My mom, Maddy, and I were on our way to Baskin Robbins to get ice cream/cappuccino blast. We weren't even halfway there when my mom got a call from my grandmother begging her to get my uncle because something had happened to my grandfather. We turned around to head to my grandmother's. All the way there I kept thinking we would pull in the driveway and it would be no big deal. As soon as we pulled into the driveway my mom got a text saying he had gotten too hot. I thought it would be just fine and we were out of the woods...I was wrong. We were there not even five minutes and my mom got back in the car to go look for my uncle. She told me she thought he had a heat stroke, there again I thought everything would be fine. My uncle wasn't home and when we got back to my grandmother's, my mom told me they had called an ambulance. Up to this point I hadn't really said much to Maddy other than we had to go help Opa...that's what the grandkids call him. I didn't want her to get out of the car because I didn't want her to witness anything that would scare her. My mom offered for me to take her car so I could get Maddy out of the situation once the ambulance was called, but at that point I couldn't leave. I needed to make sure he was going to be okay. I turned around to prepare Maddy for what she was about to see and hear. I told her Opa needed to go to the hospital and there is an ambulance on the way that is going to help him and it might be real loud, but it's ok. She was concerned he might get a shot because she knows shots hurt real bad. Just as soon as I got done explaining I hear screaming from the porch, which is where he was. I heard, "DADDY PLEASE BREATHE, COME ON BABY BREATHE! BREATHE!!!! That's when I knew it was not going to be okay. Hearing my grandmother and mom screaming and crying and pleading for the Lord to help him is something I will never forget. I had no idea what to do. I was trying to help my mom out and I called my sister to let her know he had passed away. My sister kept saying somebody had to do CPR. A light in my head went off when I heard my mom begging 911 to please hurry. I was going to take the phone or do CPR myself because I knew my mom was in no shape to do much of anything. Obviously I was not thinking straight at all because my stepdad and uncle were both there to take care of him. I went up to the porch and at that point I saw my grandfather and was not prepared for what I saw. His body was blue and he was just laying there. They got him breathing again but they kept having to do CPR on him. My mom went down to the end of the driveway to help the ambulance know where to go, so I offered to do that so she could be with her dad. She needed to be away, so she stayed. Another idea popped in my head...I could switch Maddy's car seat over to my dad's truck and be ready to go. The ambulance finally got there. They had my dad continue doing CPR on my grandfather while they got set up. They weren't in any big hurry truthfully. Once they got there I hopped in the truck,looked out the window and saw them shocking my grandfather, but he just lay on the stretcher. They got him loaded up in the ambulance and off they went. There was a police officer there that stopped us and told us not to follow the ambulance and to remind us that we had to follow the laws. Basically he was saying you can't run red lights and speed. On the way to the hospital my mom just kept shaking her head as if she were saying no. Maddy kept asking when she was going to get her ice cream. She clearly had no idea just how serious the situation was lol. Once we got to the hospital we went to the ER and tried to figure out where we needed to go. They had us sit in the ER waiting room first, then they called us all back to a room. Once I saw we were being called into a room I knew immediately he was no longer with us. We had to wait on my grandmother before anybody would talk to us. Once my sister got there I took Maddy to the bathroom to start preparing her for what was about to happen. I told her that I needed to talk to her about something really important. I went on to tell her that I thought Opa was in heaven with Jesus, and that she was probably fixing to see Nana and Oma and Uncle Mike and a lot of other people cry a whole lot. I wanted her to know that Opa really was okay in heaven, and people would be crying because they will miss him so much here on earth. We went back to the room to wait and finally my grandmother got there and the doctor came pretty soon after. He first asked my grandmother what had happened during the day prior to this incident. She explained they had had a good morning together on the porch, and then he went out to work in the yard. It was an extremely hot day and he started not feeling well so he took a break. He started feeling a little better so he did some more yard work, but he then got dizzy and sick and felt like he was going to pass out. He also had cold chills even though he was burning up. The doctor informed us all that he did indeed have a massive heart attack and unfortunately he did not make it. Maddy handled it extremely well. She was concerned that everybody was crying, but she didn't seem afraid and that was my goal. The doctor allowed us to go and see him. I chose not to go. I was scared of what he would look like and I wanted to remember him how I last saw him. The last time I saw my grandfather, was at my cousin's birthday dinner at Shogun. My grandfather was being so silly as he usually was and put his napkin around his head as if he had on a sweatband. He seemed genuinely happy that day and laughed a lot.

This was the first unexpected tragedy I have experienced in my family. I've experienced family members passing away, but we knew their time was coming to an end. I never in a million years expected my grandfather to pass away on that day. He was fairly healthy. We will miss him greatly!

Just a little note to say that I originally started this post the night this occurred. I finished the post on 11/20/19, so some of the little details I have forgotten.