“He’s going to need blood and a lot of it. Can you round up a dozen or so friends to come up here from the reservation and donate blood for him? You guys are the Universal Donors. But that doesn’t work in reverse. Apart from plasma, he has to have O negative if he receives whole blood as a transfusion. Nothing else is compatible.”
“I know hermano. Trust me, I know. Hey, is this that guy that is about our same age that came up here and worked on projects around the reservation that one summer when you and I became friends?”
“One and the same.”
“I liked him a lot and I remember him very well. I’ll get right on it and be there in a couple of hours. You do know that the drive itself is about an hour and a half.”
“I know that you’ll do your best to get here pronto. Gracias hermano! I will owe you really big for this favor.”
“Your friend is a good man. I would do nothing less if it were another one of my brothers here. You owe me nothing, my friend.” About a week later when all of the news sources finally moved on to other stories, Henry had a very clear picture of what Jason had done to end up in the hospital. Henry would smile with a sense of pride and honor for having rendered aid to such a good man.
ɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤ
As soon as the paramedics had wheeled Jason into the emergency room, one of the nurses noticed Rebecca holding his hand and running beside the gurney. Once inside of the examination room, the nurse pulled her aside to give the other personnel room to work on Jason.
She began asking Rebecca questions, but Rebecca could not hear her clearly.
“A gun was discharged very close to my ear and I can’t hear you,” she explained to the nurse in an overly loud voice.
The nurse urged her into an adjacent examine room and pulled the curtain closed separating them from Jason and his medical team. Reaching into a pocket on her white jacket, she fished out her medical flashlight and popped on the black cone-shaped attachment to examine Rebecca’s ears. Once she had determined that Rebecca had no permanent damage, ruptured eardrums, or any other injury that needed immediate attention, she pulled out a note pad and began writing questions on it for Rebecca to fill out, things like ‘Husband?’, ‘Your name?’, ‘His name?’ and so forth. Rebecca was well suited for answering most of these inquiries since she had lived with Jason for nearly two years. She had been so deeply invested in her relationship that she even knew Jason’s blood type by heart.
Jessica and Melanie arrived about ten minutes later and were directed to an interview room nearby. They too were asked questions about Jason and were also asked to share any medical history that they might know. This information was rushed to Jason’s care team as soon as it was gathered and collated. The same nurse that had interviewed Rebecca rushed into the interview room a few moments later.
“We just sent off a blood sample to the lab for typing. Are you certain that your brother is O negative?”
“Absolutely,” Jessica answered, “we both are.”
“What about her?”
“Sorry, no. I’m A negative,” Melanie answered.
“Stay close then,” the nurse told both girls. “Our blood supplies are low and we might need a pint from you, little sister.” Then pointing over at Melanie, “You can do a plasma donation and that will help as well.”
It was about that time that Roel caught up to them after driving Jason’s car over to the hospital. He rushed inside the building in search of Jessica and Melanie. He was moving at a rapid walk down the hallway and almost plowed right into the nurse as she was exiting the interview room in a rush.
“Are you here for Jason Stewart?” She asked.
“Yes mam.”
“Do you know your blood type?”
“B positive.”
“Damn! Okay, donate some plasma for him as soon as you can.” And with that, she rushed off. Roel never got a chance to tell her that he had recruited help and it was on its way.
Both Roel and Jason were regular donors at the local Blood Bank. Most of the technicians there knew them on sight because they had been there so often. Following standard procedure required the techs to inquire about the donor’s blood type during the check-in process prior to beginning the donation procedure. It was also a running gag with the techs to respond to Roel, “Dude! I wasn’t asking for your daily inspirational advice (be positive).” It was cute and funny the first time around, but it was beginning to become aggravating. Roel was relieved when the nurse had not made a snarky remark to him after he had answered her inquiry.
ɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤ
It only took Henry about 20 minutes to round up nearly 20 people from the tribe who were eligible donors and were willing to help. He knew each and every one of them personally. From each of their own perspectives, they knew that if Henry vouched for someone then that person was ‘golden’. During the search, two of the people that he had crossed paths with were members of the tribal police force who had also met Jason and were highly impressed with him. Both of the officers working together made arrangements for two 14 passenger vans to transport the men and women who had volunteered to donate blood and also took care of some other required details (such as permissions and forms for using tribal resources) needed to set up the trip.
With full tanks on all vehicles, the two vans took off for Nacogdoches escorted by two police cruisers with both of those same officers in the driver’s seat, one leading the caravan and the other one trailing. Pushing the limits of safety, they ran north traveling 85 miles per hour the whole way, only slowing down for the sharper curves on the Lufkin bypass and for the handful of towns where the highway was not freeway such as inside the Corrigan city limits.
Calls from the Police Dispatcher to the City of Nacogdoches Police Department set off a flurry of activity. Officers were assigned several intersections and held traffic for the caravan as it hit the city limits. The caravan was cleared on a direct route to the hospital without having to slow for any traffic signals. Amazingly, even with the time spent in gathering up the people and preparation, they were rolling up to the hospital doors one hour and thirty-five minutes after the initial call placed by Roel.
Henry had called Roel back when they hit the outskirts of Nacogdoches, so he was waiting for them at the entrance as they arrived and directed them to the temporary blood bank set up in a conference room by the hospital staff. Roel had eventually found a member of the staff to let the hospital know that donors were on their way, so preparations had been made for their arrival.
ɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤ
Three hours had passed since the incident at the bank and Rebecca was feeling somewhat better. The nurse had given her some aspirin for her hearing loss symptoms as well as performing a couple of therapeutic treatments that reduced her hearing loss. She still had a significant bit of ringing in her ears. But now when someone spoke to her, she could basically understand what they were saying and hear their voice relatively well. She was crossing the reception area in search of a soft drink vending machine when she spotted Jessica and Melanie huddled together on a set of chairs trying to comfort each other.
This time, she had an unobstructed view of Jessica’s face and could clearly recognize her. The other girl looked vaguely familiar as well and after a few moments, she remembered being introduced to her during one of her visits to Jason’s home during the holidays. Jessica and Melanie were very clearly unsettled and had been crying heavily. They both were sporting armband style bandages on the inside of their elbows having donated blood for Jason. Rebecca immediately altered her course and approached them.
“Jessie? Honey? Do you remember me?”
“Becky! What are you doing here?” It was then that Jessica noticed the same bandage on Rebecca’s arm that she and Melanie are both sporting. “Oh my God! Were you at the bank with Jase and Roe?”
“Com’ere sweety!” Rebecca opened her arms up as Jessica stood up and crossed the short distance between them. Rebecca drew her in closely with a hug and both girls clung tightly to each other. Rebecca was roughly the same height as Jessica, maybe a half inch shorter. So her mouth was right beside Jessica’s ear as she gently said, “Your brother saved my life today. A maniac was holding a gun to my head and Jason put him down like a rabid dog.” That was as far as she got before emotions overwhelmed her and she too started shaking and crying.
Melanie was now on her feet and joined the other two in a group hug, all three girls sniffling and tears flowing. A very attractive woman in a set of scrubs approached the three girls. She removed her cloth scrub cap from her head and asked, “Jessica Stewart?”
“Yes ma’am?”
“I’m Dr. Adams and I have an update on your brother’s condition if you would like to take a moment to speak with me in private.”
Jessica looked briefly towards Rebecca and noticed something in her eyes. Just on instinct alone, Jessica determined that Rebecca was still in love with her brother. It only took her an instant to decide, but she made a critical decision in that moment that would affect all three of the women for the rest of their natural lives.
“Dr, Adams, this is Jason’s fiancé Melanie. You already know that I am his sister. This other woman is Jason’s ex-girlfriend, but all three of us together have a vested interest in his condition. All three of us care deeply about him and I’m okay with you sharing any information about my brother with all three of us.”
Leave a Reply