Answered Prayer

When I was married to my first husband, Steve, I never tired of hearing his mother's story about the day she and the skill of a surgeon saved Steve's life. It was 1952. They were returning from a ball-game in St. Louis. Steve was sitting on her lap in the front seat. A car coming from the other direction hit them head-on. When the cars initially hit, Steve was thrown threw the windshield. The cars spun around and hit again. This time, Steve was thrown back into the broken glass of the windshield. He was seven years old. His mother had the presence of mind to apply pressure to the huge gash in his neck with towels they had in the car. An ambulance came and Steve was rushed to a hospital in St Charles (a St Louis suburb). When the surgeon, Dr Newbauser, first examined Steve, he offered little hope. Steve had lost so much blood. Dr. Newbauser elected to clamp the gash in Steve's neck at that time and began giving Steve plasma. Dr. Newbauser was encouraged because Steve began to "pink-up." The next morning, Dr. Newbauser performed delicate surgery, repairing the damage to Steve's neck. Steve's jugular vein had been spared by tenths of an inch.

After Steve and I had our son in 1971, I often thought back to that story I had been told. I used to say a prayer that someday I could let Dr.Newbauser know that because his skill had saved Steve, our beautiful little boy was now in the world.

We used to go trout fishing quite a bit at Bennett Springs State Park. One day, when our son was about 5 years old, I waded out into the water where there was another woman who was fishing. As we stood there, casting our lines out, we began to talk. I asked her where she was from. "St. Charles," she replied. "Oh really?" I said excitedly, "there is a Doctor Newbauser who is in St Charles that I would really like to thank." I told her the story of Steve. She listened to me with eyes wide. As I finished the story, she told me, "The doctor you are talking about is the old Dr. Newbauser. I am the young Dr. Newbauser's nurse. When I return to St Charles, I will tell the young Dr Newbauser and I know he will tell his father. "You do not know how much this will mean to him," she said, "the old Dr Newbauser is over 80 years old now and almost blind."