The 2012, Baby Sister’s Song: EA/TEF Wallk-A-Thon is in the history books; however, I can only report what I’ve heard about the event. Unfortunately, I did not attend, even after weeks of planning and prep work to be there.
The morning of July 29, 2012 started off just fine. My sister and I had worked all night to put the finally touches on Baby Sister’s Song: EA/TEF Walk-A-Thon. At about 5:00 a.m. we started getting dressed so we could be at the trail by 6:30 a.m. so we would have plenty of time to get everything set up.
Right before I walked out of the door, I woke up Baby Sister aka Eryn. I checked her out as I usually do, and she seemed ok. I knew she didn’t feel a 100%, but nothing in her demeanor was alarming. I had taken out her clothes, and I had asked my oldest daughter to comb her hair and get her dressed so I could go get set-up. She agreed, and I left home.
I arrived at the WB&A Trail at approximately 6:45 a.m. and was working to unload my van and get the tables set-up for the walkers. My husband, Frank, arrived shortly after I did, and he too was working to ensure that this day was going to go off without a hitch.
At 7:23 a.m., Frank’s mother called him and said they had just called 911. My husband turned and started running toward his car. I didn’t know what was going on, but I felt his urgency, and began to run after him. As he approached his car, and I approached my van, I asked him what was going on. He told me that his mother had just called 911 for Baby Sister. I began to move more quickly towards my van, and then my husband told me to get in his car. Once inside his car, he told me that Baby Sister had stopped breathing. At first I could not understand him, so I asked again what had happened. He told me again as he burned up his tires and breaks trying to get out of the parking lot.
He drove like a wild man, and I held on for dear life while I prayed and asked God to please spare my daughter’s life. To allow her to breath, and not let me find her dead when I returned home. I also made several calls to my house, my oldest daughter, and mother-in-law, but nobody answered my calls. The chills from my thoughts paralyzed me. While we made our way to our child, my husband kept checking the time… it’s been two minutes. Now we are at three minutes. Oh God, it’s been four minutes., and so on. We got home to find my family and daughter on the front porch, and Baby Sister was breathing!!! Praise God!!!
Baby Sister was very dazed, but she was alive! Thankfully, she was alive. My daughter was crying hysterically and my mother-in-law was still on the telephone with the 911 operator. My husband took over the telephone call, and my mother-in-law told me what happened. It seemed like a lot of time had passed and the paramedics would never get to us. I told my husband to tell them that we were just going to take her to the nearest hospital, but by the time we were at that point, the paramedics arrived.
As the EMT workers began to ask me questions and move us into the ambulance, I realized that I had left my purse, keys and other important information in my van at the trail. It’s so funny how those things were no longer important. I could get a new van, purse, keys, money, credit cards, etc., but I had only one Baby Sister, and she was NOT replaceable.
I also thought about the Walk-A-Thon that I had spent the last 53 days planning, and the thought came and it went. Either my sister and the volunteers would make it happen, or they wouldn’t, but again, the walk was very insignificant compared to my daughter’s life. Fortunately, my sister and the other people there got things set up, and Baby Sister;s Song: EA/TEF Walk-A-Thon 2012 took place. Maybe not as I would have done it, but as it was done, and it went well. The people who attended reported that the walk was nice, and they enjoyed it and each other’s company.
As for Baby Sister, she is also doing well after spending most of the week in the hospital. We still aren’t sure what caused her to stop breathing, but we are grateful that she is fine now.
