Positive Pressure of the Past - My Nemesis

In August on a beautiful early Sunday morning in May of 1977, my family was awakened by the frantic sounds of a boson’s whistle being blown by the nurse on duty(I had 24 hour nursing care). This whistle had been given by my father to the nurses to use in case of emergency.  My parents rushed up to my room and found that the respirator had malfunctioned and had stuck in the inhale position. As a result, it had blown a hole in both my lungs collapsing them and had blown me so full of air that my face, head and body looked like a balloon. The nurse had disconnected the respirator and attempted to pump air into my lungs by hand. She was simultaneously trying to give me CPR because my heart had stopped. Dad immediately called the paramedics while Mom started hand-pumping air into me and the nurse continued to give me CPR. Charlotte gathered all my other brothers and sisters and began to pray the rosary. As Mom was pumping air into me by hand, she looked up at a picture of the Virgin Mary, which was over my bed and said to the Blessed Mother, “Blessed Mother, you can’t take her now!”  The paramedics arrived in less than three minutes from their station five miles away.  The first of them to arrive was the chief who came from his home where he had just gotten up and begun shaving. He was only dressed in his shorts and was barefooted; however, he knew exactly what to do and immediately took charge. They took over giving me CPR and connected me to a heart machine.  Charlotte had just started the rosary when the paramedics announced that they had detected a heartbeat. As soon as they had my condition stabilized, they put me into an ambulance and drove me back to the intensive care unit at Children’s Memorial Hospital.  The doctors there were able to remove most of the excess air that had caused my body to swell up like a balloon by inserting very long thin needles into me and releasing the air. I remained at Children’s Memorial Hospital for about a week before they could again send me home. I had been saved again.