A Life That Matters Read Free Page A

‘Look, if you don’t tell us that she was doing drugs, you know we’re going to hold you responsible.’ I think they even threatened criminal charges against me. And I knew my sister. I never knew Terri ever doing drugs. I mean, she would drink—socially drink when we went out. But never drugs. And I was adamant. ‘No. She doesn’t do drugs.’
    “I remember the paramedics being young. I remember them hitting Terri with the defibrillators a number of times. I remember I called my dad. I went into the living room and called my dad. And didn’t know what to tell him, except that she would be taken to Humana Northside Hospital. I said it was serious, but they didn’t know what was wrong with her. My dad kept asking me over and over again, ‘What do you think is wrong?’ And I didn’t know. I didn’t know what was wrong. And we just waited. And they were working on her for upwards of a half hour.
    “In that time frame, the police arrived, and firemen, and more paramedics. They finally got Terri stabilized enough to put her on a bed, one of those rolling beds. I remember them taking Terri out, and I remember looking at the floor. I couldn’t believe all the stuff that was on the floor—trash that they were using. You know, something they injected her with, stuff they were using on her. There was just trash everywhere. Needles everywhere. So I knew there was something seriously wrong, terribly wrong, because they were injecting her with things, I guess to try to get her heart started.
    “I walked downstairs. Someone was left behind—I don’t know if it was a paramedic or policeman or firefighter. I said to him, ‘What’s going on? What’s wrong with my sister?’ And I remember him saying, ‘If she makes it to the hospital alive, it’ll be a miracle.’
    “Michael got in the ambulance with Terri. I said, ‘Michael, I’ll be there shortly.’
    “I was hysterical. I drove home, hands shaking. I called my girlfriend at the time, Julie White, to come and get me—I could barely drive, I told her. I walked in the door of my apartment and I fell to my knees and I just started crying. I woke Craig up. He was half asleep, didn’t know what was going on. I told him what had happened, and Julie got there a short time after, and then we drove to the hospital.”

CHAPTER 2
    The Hospital
    When Bobby called, he hadn’t told us how serious Terri’s condition was. He simply said that they were taking her to Humana, and we were left to guess the rest. Our guesses were grim.
    Bob and I had just seen her a few hours before. She was fine. We had dinner with her. She got in her car. She went home. We couldn’t imagine what could be wrong with her. I felt confused and frightened. It seemed unreal.
This can’t be happening
, I thought.
    Bob’s memory of that morning is strong. “We drove to the hospital. The hospital is probably a twenty-minute drive from where we live, but it felt like ten hours. It was getting light outside. But on the way up, I vividly remember seeing lights in a would-be shopping center that were brighter than the other lights. And it was strange to me that they stood out with all the night city lights or streetlights; that this cluster of lights was more illuminated.”
    When we got to the hospital, we went to the emergency room and asked about Terri. Nobody answered. Someone—a nurse or orderly—ushered us into a waiting room, and then a doctor came in. Dr. Samir Shah. He couldn’t tell us much, only that Terri was fighting for her life. Bobby arrived, shouting, “Is she dead? Is she dead?” and I said, “No. Settle down.”
    But of course none of us could settle down. The words “She’s fighting for her life” had blown us away. Bobby told us that they had to use “paddles” on Terri, and he may have said something about the paramedics and police. It was hard to listen. The words didn’t penetrate. I don’t remember whether Michael was with us—he may have been with Terri—but