Changed In an Instant

In an instant your whole day can change, even your whole life. Yesterday (June 18th), Travis found this out for himself. He was finishing up his mowing on our church’s farm. With just three passes left with the 6.5 horsepower push mower, Travis slipped on a bank.

I was in the barn helping to set up for Youth Camp ’08 when someone came in and told me that Travis had cut himself with the mower. It didn’t sound serious judging by the calm manner of whoever told me this. I don’t remember who it was, maybe one of the youth that were also there helping. I kind of jogged over to where he was until I saw a couple of people gathered around him lying on the ground. Then I moved a bit faster.

It was serious. I saw a lot of blood and an open-toed sneaker on his left foot. I gave him a hug, started applying pressure and prayed for him. We gently rolled him on his back and elevated the foot. He was in a whole lot of pain. Peter (our senior pastor) quickly arrived with a first aid kit, and handed me a roll of gauze. I put that between my hand and Travis’ wound and continued the pressure. Chris Strayer was there as he was delivering lights for youth camp. He is an EMT and helped monitor the situation until the ambulance came.

Unfortunately, Millersville’s ambulance crew was out on a call, so we had to wait for a crew from Lancaster city. It had already been lightly raining, but as we waited it started to rain more heavily. At this point there were many concerned church members (i.e. family) at the scene doing whatever could help. Peter and some others searched for parts of Travis’ toes. Someone went to get an umbrella and held it over Travis. Someone else brought water, and a blanket. Mike Minich stayed close to Travis and made small talk trying to keep him calm. I think everyone prayed.

The Lancaster Ambulance arrived as soon as they could and took over. They were a good crew. They took a close enough look at the wound to determine that half of Travis’ big toe on his left foot had been severed. Amazingly no other toes were lost (check the picture below to see just how amazing that is). Peter found the toe over forty feet from the site of the accident, and was able to send it to the hospital with us in the ambulance. When we arrived at the hospital, there was a lot of waiting for an orthopedic doctor to be called in. He examined Travis and gave his opinion. He seemed very confident in telling us that attempting to reattach the toe would not be a good option. We asked for a second opinion, so he consulted with specialists from Hershey Medical Center. They confirmed his opinion. So we consented to surgery to clean the wound, trim the bone and close it up. After surgery, the doctor was all the more certain that it would have been a mistake to try to reattach. He does have about half of the big toe left, and has always had very long toes; perhaps an evolutionary left-over (JUST kidding). His walking will be affected some. Only time will tell how much.

This is all still very new. I am typing this the morning after. Travis will be coming home later today. He will appreciate phone calls and visits from his friends. He will be fortunate to be able to catch one or two or the main meetings at Youth Camp ’08.

Below is a picture of Travis’ sneaker. He is very fortunate to have any toes at all, or even a foot.