Today was a good day
I took my dog for a walk up to the woodland behind my house. This woodland is the remains of the estate of a large country house once owned by Lord Somethingorother. The house is long gone, burned down in the 1920’s
I mention this only as the estate had several pathways, metal fences and gates which means that there is a lot of ironwork still sticking up out of the ground and hiding in bushes and against trees.
This is exactly what caught the young girl I came across about an hour into our walk.
I heard a woman screaming out for help so I headed towards the sounds and found a young mother and her daughter (the daughter must have been about 8 or 10). It seems the daughter had decided to climb an old oak, had slipped and as she fell managed to almost impale her inner thigh on some old rusty stanchion. Result? Blood everywhere, girl crying, woman screaming that she had no phone signal and had to get her daughter an ambulance.
I checked and found I did have a signal so I phoned the emergency services and arranged to meet them where the path we were on intersects the access road.
I had a look at the girl’s leg and while a very nasty deep cut from halfway up the thigh to near the crotch, it was obviously painful. Also messy, loads of blood, but nothing arterial so the old training kicked in and with a clean handkerchief and a scarf from the mother I bound the wound up as best I could to prevent as much blood loss as possible and carried the girl the three or four hundred yards to the access road.
Ambulance turned up about five minutes after we got to the road and the medics took over.
Before they left I gave the mother my mobile number and asked her to let me know her daughter was OK, just to set my mind at rest.
I got that phone call about half an hour ago. Girl will be fine. Will have a nasty 4 inch scar on her inner thigh, but it’ll be high enough up not to be noticeable in normal clothing.
So you may wonder why coming across a bleeding girl makes it a good day?
It was a good day because, for the first time in a while, I actually felt useful, needed.
Yes, today was a good day
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Way glad you were there and am sure the Mother was too and the little girl & that you were able to call for help . Thank you for sharing this story with us.
Thank goodness you were there at the time Way, you would of been a sight for sore eyes for the Mum. Right place at the right time, and you being the right person also .
Well done Way – Talk about being in the right place at the right time! – and luckily y ou had the skills needed to be able to help the child !
You were an angel maybe meant to be.
Waylander, You should feel good. The girl could possibly have died and you certainly was a big help in a crisis. You were the angel that time and day. There was a trend to do a good deed. The Boy Scouts were taught it. All of us need to look for good deeds to do. I saved a life once and I never realized how important an act it was. It happened when I was 18 and I moved away and hardly ever gave it a thought. I am glad that you realized what you did and how important it was.
Sorry Ive only read this. Way, it was meant to be that you were so close to be able to help this mum and child. You helped three people that day. Mum, child and yourself. I think as we all get older its easy to feel useless and not needed, and when people reach out for help and we are there for them, its a great feeling. Also Way, I dont know if its every been said, but you are a major part of many of our lives here in this group. You may not have physically met many or any of us, but believe me, you are most certainly needed, wanted and admired by so many of us. xx
To have purpose can be a powerful thing. When I was younger, I went through a depressed time during my divorce. The depression was so powerful, that I would physically battle pain and exhaution. The purpose I had as a mum was what willed me out of bed each day, never missing a days work, and allowing me to take care of my son and anything relating to him and all our needs.
I’m sure that mum will be forever grateful that you were out for a walk that day.