At the end of Part 2 of this story my cousin Dick Lowther had been injured during the attempted robbery of coins from his home during the early hours of the morning on July 2, 2009. When the dogs started barking warning a next door neighbor that something was awry he came out swinging a club chasing at least one of the robbers away. He stopped to help Dick and called 911. Dick was taken to the closest hospital, Robinson Memorial, in Ravenna. The attending surgeon from Robinson testified in court that Dick said that when he went to the door a guy grabbed him, pushed him down to the floor, sat on him and held his head down. The surgeon testified that Dick had a significant spinal cord injury and had loss of feeling and loss of movement. The spinal cord had started swelling and as a result he was loosing feeling and ability to use his muscles to breathe.
I am telling this story from my knowledge of what happened as reported to us by Dick's sons and as reported in the Record-Courier newspaper. The Record-Courier is the major newspaper published in Ravenna which is the county seat of Portage County and the site of the county courthouse where the trials of the robbers were to be eventually held. The news of the robbery was front page news and included many photos of the perpatrators. I would scan and put this information in the blog but am reluctant as I don't know what laws may apply to copyrighted published material.
Dick was life flighted to Akron City Hospital for more intensive care. I don't know all the details of the treatment but I understand that surgery was done to repair his broken neck. For a short time after the surgery Dick was off the ventilator and could talk and reveal the details of the assault. Shortly after that he had to be put under heavy sedation due to complications. For the next couple of weeks Dick remained in a comatose condition with little improvement until the doctors started to try and bring him out of the coma. At first things were slow but eventually Dick did respond and regained some degree of consciousness but still required major life support.
Dick was paralyzed from the chest down and a quadriplegic from the injuries and continued life support was required to maintain life in somewhat of a delicate balance to prevent infections and just keep him breathing.
This is where some very hard decisions are presented to those involved in a situation like this. At this point Dick could only commuicate by simple head movements. The family along with the doctors decided to remove life support and for a short time without tubes, etc., Dick was able to communicate that he did not want to remain under life support. Dick's life journey ended on July 30, 2009.
What a shame for an innocent retired person enjoying life with family and friends to have his life taken away by people engaged in such a deplorable act. To be sitting watching TV one moment and then a few minutes away a quadriplegic and mortally injured is one of those twists and turns in life that you can't possibly imagine happening. I guess the moral of the story here is to never open the door to your house to anyone at anytime asking for help. As Dick's son said an offer to call 911 and report a motorist in distress is the only way to deal with this in todays world.
During Lent our Wednesday evening meetings have been discussing praying and ways of communicating with God. This past Wednesday part of the discussion was termed "praying with the scriptures" and one way of doing this is putting yourself into one of the stories or persons of the Bible. When asked who you might see yourself as or relate to one person said The Good Samaritan. I have been thinking about this in terms of Dick's experience. Is there a limit or should there be in terms of helping others? I guess that a degree of caution and investigation is necessary at the beginning of helping anyone in todays world with all the scams out there. Once you find out the details of who you're helping then go for it to the extent that you are able. Was it any different in Bible times? Probably not and like the saying goes - there's nothing new under the sun. The moral of the Good Samaritan story was to help others in need and that is a good thing but I would add to start cautiously. Dick's intention was to help someone as he did many times before but little did he know what was waiting outside his door.
Next in the tale - the bad guys!
Life is good - enjoy!
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