Saturday July 10th, 2010

Hello Everyone,

It is hard to imagine how people managed to communicate 15 years ago without the convenience of cell phones and the internet, especially during an event such as we are going through now. Sitting at an outdoor concert in Western North Carolina, we got a call from The Salvation Armys Camp Keystone in Florida that our Alyson was in an ambulance headed to the hospital. She had had a seizure while at the pool. The campers were there as well as a lot of other staff members. Her husband Manny who is the head lifeguard was also there doing his lifeguard duties.

Saturday July 10^th, 2010.

They had just called a “code brown” for the pool, (I think you can figure that out) which required Manny to clear all the swimmers out of the pool. Alyson was sitting on the side, pointing out to Manny where the “brown object” was in the pool, and Manny was looking for it. Alyson was laying in a lounger chair, and leaned over to get something beside it, and just slumped in the chair. Her co-cabin counselor heard her say “Oh no” as she passed out. A seizure immediately started and Alysons friend called for Manny. Manny upon seeing her seizing, started screaming out loud for someone to call 911. Two of the staff members are trained EMT staff from Puerto Rico, they assisted Manny with getting Alyson on the ground, and assisted with taking care of her. The maintenance man, got the camp gate open, and then directed the ambulance to the pool area when it arrived. It was there in 4 minutes.

The hospital is 28 miles from camp. It is a 40 minute drive normally. Manny riding in the ambulance was there in 30 minutes. Captain Murphy (the DYS) followed the ambulance in his car. She came too in the ambulance about 20 minutes after she initially went into the seizure.

This all started about 8:30 Saturday night.

We got the first phone call from the camp nurse saying she had had a seizure by the pool. We could do nothing but wait until more information was available. Paula was able to get us the cell phone number for Captain Murphy so we could contact him directly.

We were with Pam Bridges, her mother Jan Rowland and her friend Phyllis sitting in downtown Franklin at Pickin on the Square. A Saturday night ritual in Franklin, featuring local musicians. Mostly it is Bluegrass, Country or Gospel music.

Several calls later, we only thing we knew was that she was at the hospital, and she was responsive, Manny was with her, she was able to move all her body parts, and that she was being treated for the seizure.

We headed back up to the house. Captain Murphy finally called me to let me know what had happened and that she was being admitted to the hospital. We also talked to Manny and asked to be updated through the night. We got one call during the night to say that she was being admitted to the ICU unit at the hospital. That is when I realized how serious this was.