PHOENIX: A year ago, Reed Schaaf's life was hanging by a thread.
Today, he's being called a medical miracle by the very heroes who saved him.
This decorated Army soldier is still working through a traumatic brain injury, but he's determined to show his gratitude for the group of first responders he's now bonded with for life.
I was there when Schaaf spent time thanking the heros who saved him on a video call.
"Thank you. I appreciate you! The whole Banner team did quite the job on this body!"
Reed's voice filled with emotion as he chatted with Paul Lewis a flight paramedic for Banner Air who said,
"We made you as comfortable as we could, man!"
The paramedics, trauma nurse and surgeon all told me, that being thanked is extremely rare in their line of work.
Reed says he was on a beach vacation in Rocky Point, Mexico, when a devastating all-terrain vehicle crash almost took his life.
I asked Reed, "Did it flip? Did it roll down the hill?"
"Yeah, so pretty much what I was told everything was fine and then I clipped a tree or something and swung into a wall," Reed explains, trying recall the incident that crushed his body.
First responders in Mexico knew, Reed needed to get to a Level One Trauma Center in order to survive.
But the closest facility was more than 200 miles away, in Phoenix.
Reed was losing a staggering amount of blood.
He even suffered a heart attack, flat-lining twice as he was rushed by ambulance for 90 grueling minutes to the U.S.-Mexico border.
"I was pronounced dead on the scene when they showed up," Reed recalls.
At the border, he was transferred to an American ambulance from Ajo.
Then he was rushed to a Banner Air medical helicopter near Gila Bend.
That's where he was stabilized by flight paramedic Paul Lewis who told me,
"I remember, in the helicopter yelling at reed, 'don't give up. Come on, come on, we're 20 minutes out!' ".
The Banner Air medical helicopter was equipped with specialized trauma tools *and--
The two units of blood, reed would need to stay alive while he was rushed into the Banner University Medical Center's ICU in Phoenix for the first of 8 surgeries.
I talked to Dr. Jack He who said, "Most of the major bones in his body were shattered. He had neurologists involved. He had plastic surgery involved. He had a facial surgery team. So it's a truly collection of multi specialty that provided care for him."
I asked Dr. He if he considered Reed's survival a miracle. He told me
"Knowing that Reed's heart stopped on the way here and you know, seeing him now, he's like a normal person so I would say yeah."
Reed was hospitalized for 60 days, surrounded by the love and support of his family and his entire medical team.
A trauma nurse who was in the operating room the day Reed was flown in said, "It was very heartwarming to see how well he progressed. I was rooting for him."
Reed suffers from TBI amnesia and doesn't remember much of the accident, but tells me he vows never to forget the importance of honoring our emergency responders.
"I would never be here to talk to you guys if it wasn't for the people in Mexico, the people at the border, Banner Air, and the trauma center. It's awe-inspiring that people do this every day."
From the brink of death to recovery, Reed Schaaf's journey is a testament to the dedication and heroism of our first responders and medical professionals in Arizona.
He hopes his story will remind others to thank our first responders for the life-saving work they do and the profound impact they have on every person they touch.
He also wants to encourage others to donate blood telling me, he's a living example of the way donating blood can save lives.
If you'd like to donate blood, there are organizations located in Arizona to make doing so easy
including:
Vitalant
5757 North Black Canyon Highway- Phoenix
(877) 464 4376
vitalant.org
Red Cross
9950 W. Glendale Avenue Ste. A
800 733 2767
redcrossblood.org
24 май 2024
