Thursday, February 5, 2009

The kids featured in the Reader's Digest




Well, you have all probably heard this story but...this last August the kids went up to Wenatchee to go camping with our family friend Jodi. On the last day of their vacation they decided to go tubing down the wenatchee river. Cody and Weston were in their own tubes and held onto eachother. Jodi and Katelin were in their own tube. As they came to the end of their ride Jodi was attacked by a tightening in her chest. She passed it off as just excitement from the ride but suddenly the tightening became more severe and was not allowing her to make much movement. She knew she coudln't frighten Katelin or fall into the river because Katelin would not survive without her help. With all her strength she asked Katelin to say a pray as she slipped under the water. The next thing she knew a man was pulling her through the water. All she remembers is that he was wearing a shirt from Canada. He pulled her to a shallow part of the river and took Katelin to shore. He then swam back for Jodi as she slowly slipped back into the water. He pulled her to shore where he coached her breathing and kept her secure until the ambulance arrived. The kids watched anxiously as she was taken away in the ambulance and they were ushured to the campsites commons area to wait for us to get there. When we reached the children three hours later we hugged and kissed eachother like we hadn't seen eachother in 5 years. But they were so brave. We located Jodi at the Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee where she was undergoing observatiions in the ICU unit. She had suffered a massive heartattack they have disctinctivly named "The Widow Maker" for that purpose...most people don't survive it! But she underwent a triple bypass surgery and survived. When she was stable enough to think about what had truely happened to her all she could think about was finding the man who saved her and Katelin. He was truly an angel sent to the right place at the right time! So the search began she started calling all around Canada and finally decided to post a message in the Canadian paper where it caught the eye of many journalists. Pretty soon it had made national news and was also included in the Wenatchee World. But the amazing thing that happened was she got a call from the gentleman that saved her, his name was Buddy. The story got more astonishing. He wasn't just a weekend camper who decided to go to Wenatchee for a quick vacation, this man was a marathon runner and an Emergency room nurse who specializes in heart attack patients. Talk about being at the right place at the right time!! Soon enough we were contacted by the publisher for Reader's Digest in Canada. They wanted to feature an article on the amazing story. Over the last couple of months we have had interviews over the phone and met with an amazing photographer who took some pictures for the article. Through this experience I have learned a couple of things one: Heavenly Father is always watching out for us; and two: My Katelin is my angel!! and Heavenly Father has someone pretty special watching over her. She always tells me about how she prayed really hard that day and Heavenly Father listened to her prayers and saved Jodi. All I can say is thank you Buddy for listening to your heart that day!

8 comments:

Cox Family News said...

I'm thankful for Buddy too. Can't imagine this world without Katelin! Life would be pretty boring. What an experince those kids had! I love them to pieces.
Love, Grandma Olson

ab5cgang said...

Ok you have me in tears. This is an amazing story. Thanks for sharing. Can we get our hands on one of the magazines?

Mike and Shaurie Berlin said...

Oh my gosh. You guys need to start calling more often! I didn't know all that went on! I'm so glad that everything turned out ok. That is so scary!

Todd and Shana said...

That is awesome! How'd you get a hold of a copy, did they send you one? I bet the kids were so excited :)

Chad, Chelsea, Dawson and Jett Davis said...

Hey I totally know Jodi, we go caroling with her every year I didn't know you guys were close. What a cool story.

Erin said...

WOW! That is amazing!

Shaila Lou said...

Yay, you have a blog, and I see some other awesome cousins on your side board too! I'm so excited! I love staying in contact this way.

I remember reading about this on your facebook. That is so awesome it's in the Reader's Digest.

I love that you love Melissa on the bachelor too! I hope she ends up with him!

Taylor and Melissa said...

What an amazing story!