Some Things That You're Happy to Do.

I received a phone call late last night from my North Dakota counterpart (FOP National Trustee). One of his members had been severely burned and was being airlifted to Regions Hospital in St. Paul. His wife was at work when they were putting him on the airplane - she had just enough time to grab her purse, so she basically had the clothes on her back. Another State Board member and I called the burn unit, told the charge nurse that we would be over in the morning and gave all of our phone numbers.

She called at 8:00 AM this morning - a little distraught and not sure what to do. My fellow board member's wife (and active auxiliary member) went over right away, and took her to Target to get a weeks worth of clothes, tioletries and luggage. I caught up to the two ladies later in the morning - I figured that our North Dakota wife may become a little tired of hospital chow, so I took her to the St. Paul Grill for lunch. During lunch she mentioned that she was a religious Catholic - so we also stopped at the St. Paul Cathedral and lit a couple of candles.

I was actually able to talk to the North Dakota brother - he was conscious and aware - but he was so swollen up that he couldn't speak or even open his eyes...but he could hear me. I told him who I was and that his wife was being taken care of. I told him that the only thing that he needed to worry about was getting better. He gave me a thumbs up.

I'm not talking about this to blow my own horn - actually, it was my brother from North Dakota that gave me the gift. I will never forget that hand wrapped in gauze giving me the thumbs up.