Recognition
Today Kenny’s school celebrated their kindergarten graduation, and each kid got a certificate and a gift bag, recognizing their readiness for 1st grade. Other than that it was a typical school day, so we walked Kenny to the bus stop precisely at 7:45am. Our little family each has a morning job; Christy gets our son dressed and ready for school, and I prepare breakfast for him and pack his lunch. Since the boy is six and a half, his job is to reject the clothes his mom picks out, choose his own and pick a fight. Today he didn’t have a lot to say, so we were more or less on time and in good spirits as we walked out of the house. On our way past the mailbox I peeked in, and I saw something I’d been waiting on for a month. Excited, I called Kenny and his mom over, opened the package and read the certificate to them.
American Heart Association HeartSaver Hero award presented to Christy Wilson, in recognition of advancing the mission of the American Heart Association and Emergency Cardiovascular Care through a courageous act in an effort to save a life.
They had also written a neat letter thanking her for managing her fear in the moment, and stepping up as a bystander and performing immediate CPR to someone in distress. I’m glad the American Heart Association hands out this award, because honestly the whole event seems surreal, with me flat on my back dead, Christy calling 911 and doing the chest compressions all while Kenny slept ten feet away. The letter described that most people, in the moment of a cardiac arrest, freeze in fear, not wanting to do harm. Christy pushed past that fear quickly and authoritatively, and that’s why she’s a hero, and I’m just a grateful survivor who is just now learning that my odds of survival were less than 10%. We cried a little bit as we read the letter. We barely made it to the bus on time.
I’ve always done my best to be a part of every Kenny memory, and to be present at every function. Now it’s more important than ever, partly because studies show less than fifty percent chance of me making ten more years. Since that would mean Kenny would graduate high school without his dad cheering for him, I’m going to do everything in my power to keep that from happening. Instead I’ll be focusing on the twenty-plus years I’ll need to stick around if I’m going to see him graduate college and start a family of his own. I’ve already come back from only a 10% chance, so maybe it’s time to question all odds and predictions.
Everyone who knows me knows I’m hardwired for gratitude and optimism, and that itself improves my long-term survival chances. Some of that gratitude is going to be funneled into new activities in this season, including our participation in CPR training events, and music ministry events designed to help people who desire more connections with loved ones after discord, disappointment or dependency. From now on my weekly posts will deal mostly with those activities, but if you’d like to read more about my cardiac arrest and subsequent hospital stay, you can find it at www.eddiewilson.com/heart
Till next week, thanks for caring. You’re only a heartbeat away.
