Why we need to
improve our gun safety laws.
When I was in my
20's in my master's program and teaching at Auburn, I got a call at 7:00 in the
morning from the father of my brand-new boyfriend, Shane Ford. He said, "Shane
was shot in a hunting accident. He is not expected to make it, and he is
calling out your name and wants to see you." The pain in Shane's father's
voice was the worst sound imaginable. I had lost my father a few months before this,
and I knew that pain.
I was home with
the flu and 103-degree temperature, and there was an ice storm, and I had never
driven in snow. So I got in the car and drove on an ice-covered deserted road
to the hospital. I masked up and went into the intensive care unit to say goodbye
to Shane. When I first saw Shane, he was covered in blood and hooked up to many
pieces of equipment. (I didn't know some was the deer's blood.) So there, surrounded
by his family, Shane and I said our goodbyes.
That morning a young
boy, I believe he was 14, who had never hunted or held or shot a rifle, was
handed a gun and instructed how to shoot it by some men that knew the boy came
from a troubled home. Their intent was the teach him to be a man and help him
bond with other men. The boy and the hunters laid down in line at the deer
stand with their guns and Shane ran the deer (chased the deer in front of them)
The body saw movement and shot Shane.
The Bullet went through Shane's spleen and his kidney bounced off his
spine and lodged in his heart. He lost 37 pints of blood in 24 hours. In the
first surgery, they couldn't find the bullet. They stitched him up and we said
our goodbyes as he was bleeding to death. But just by happenstance there was a
visiting physician there to teach at the hospital and he asked us if we were
willing to have Shane be a research patient since he was going to die, they
would continue to look for the bullet, but they didn't have much hope. We said
yes, and the visiting surgeon found the bullet lodged in his aortic value and
was able to replace it with a pig's valve and save his life. With his blood
loss, this was a medical miracle and in fact, Shane's case was written up in
three medical journals. Over 400 people
donated blood at the hospital that week in Shane's name.
Shane, according to the doctors, was not supposed to live, and when he survived,
they said he would never walk again, as the shock trousers they had put on him
to push the blood to his heart and brain had cut off the blood supply to his
legs for too long. He had a long recovery; that recovery was difficult and
painful for him and all of us. I saw firsthand what that one rifle bullet did
to his body. The long deep red scar down the center of his body. The hole in
his back. I know how many people worked to save him; I see the love it took to keep
him motivated to fight for his life. I know all the work it took for all of us
to help him recover and walk again. I wouldn't wish that agony of a journey on
anyone.
