A Life-Changing Perspective

It was just another regular Tuesday for me at college and I was enjoying my art class. It was an almost four-hour-long class as it was every once a week. The sun was shining and surprisingly it was a pretty day outside for the season of fall in October 2018. My family friend texted me as we used to attend the same college and had offered me a ride to his house as our homes were pretty close by and his mom or dad would drop me home. He was on medication and he was limited to driving from school to home and work due to a drinking and driving incident. He had a breathalyzer attached to his steering wheel and he had to breathe into it before he would start to drive and while driving from time to time as he had explained to me. We were on the highway and about five minutes later the breathalyzer was beeping so blew into it again. He said it beeped pretty fast. I was looking straight ahead and after about three minutes the car started to move towards the right side of the road which I’d the passenger’s seat and the side view mirror crashed. I panicked and turned towards my family friend shouting what are you doing then I realized that he was unconscious and was having a seizure. His hands were off the steering wheel, and he was drooling from the side of his mouth. I was taking his name trying to wake him up. The car luckily after that bump started moving towards the left side and came to an absolute stop. The airbags were out at that point. I was shaking and taken aback for a while. I realized I couldn’t give up so I called 911 and was still in panic mode and was explaining the situation to them. A kind man stopped his car right in front of us as we were in the middle of the road. He helped me convey my message to 911 and within minutes the police, the state trooper, and an ambulance came by and that kind man left after a while. My family friend was still unconscious at that point. I was stuck inside as the passenger door wouldn’t open up. The police came by and was questioning me. My family friend finally opened his eyes so I believe he was unconscious for about five to seven minutes. He apologized to me at least three times. He had a bad headache so he was taken into the ambulance and was given a thorough checkup and I gathered all my things and was finally able to get out o of the car. I was being questioned by at least four people after I got outside of the car and I was dealing with the police and was trying to explain to them about the breathalyzer and what had happened You must be wondering why didn’t they do a thorough checkup on me as well. Well, I’m not sure either because I was walking around normally. I was also in that car but no one bothered to check up on me. I didn’t realize at that point as I was still trying to register what had just happened and I’m the patient there so dealing with all that was quite overwhelming for me as well. After a while, the car was taken away by a tow-away truck. We were both inside the ambulance and were being taken to the hospital. I was sitting in the front seat while he was lying on the bed at the back. Then I finally called up his mom and dad and told them all about it and told them we are on the way to the hospital. I called up my mom after that and told her about the incident and she was also on her way. We finally reached the hospital and he was taken into the emergency room while I was just walking around. My dad called me saying mom had called him. I had forgotten for a while that my dad worked as a supply specialist at the hospital and after I got off the call then the person at the reception told me to wait outside in the waiting room. I met my dad and his parents outside in the waiting room. After seeing my dad that’s when I got emotional and lost it and broke down. I was holding my emotions in that whole time. We went to see my family friend in the emergency room and that moment the state trooper was back and was saying things like you both were vaping in the car and I said no that’s not true. He was questioning me and saying then why are your eyes red and I told him because I’ve been crying, don’t you see that. He was a very rude and irritating officer who didn’t know how to talk and didn’t understand the emotional turmoil we were going through. I broke down and was sitting outside and waiting for my mom to come. I told her what had happened and she went inside the emergency room where everyone else was and was very angry and requested to call that state trooper. She told him that he doesn’t have any feelings or emotions and he should apologize to me but of course, he didn’t and he smirked at her. My mom told him is it because we are not your race and have a different skin color than you so you dare to look down on us. He had also reported the incident as rash driving which really made my family friend's dad angry. He left after that and my mom told me all about it as I wasn’t there that time. I was waiting to get checked up by the doctor and the waiting took forever. My mom was really mad and she quite literally had to shout at them. Finally, she talked to a nurse and the nurse said your daughter should have said something to which my mom responded she is the patient and a patient doesn’t come to say I’m sick. I was finally given a Tylenol and was seen by the doctor about three and a half hours later that day. And this is supposedly one of the best hospitals in the state. Everyone was praising me for my bravery and I think I do have a pretty strong heart. Also if my mother wasn’t there for my support I don’t know how I would have been able to handle the situation at the hospital too. So I’d say I got it from my momma. Thankfully we both didn’t have internal or serious injuries and it was just minor headaches and body aches. We’re both very lucky to be alive. I’d say there is some force out there that did save our lives that day.