My memory of the Emergency Crew

As if waking up again, lying comfortably on a stretcher now, I can assume I was in an ambulance at this point, but I cannot feel or see anything that is going on. I assume I was in the EMT because a warm, young female voice speaks to me in an attempt to keep me awake. Her voice fills me with calm but nervous energy. “What is your name?” asks the young female voice. “My name is Brittany,” I reply quickly. “How old are you?” The same female voice asks. “I'm 24,” I replied. More questions were asked, and I did my best to answer, then this overwhelming urgency came over me that I needed to call my mom. Every question they asked me from then on, I would answer and then tell them to call my mom, and I would give them her number.

I fall out of consciousness again, and when I zone back in, I hear the same questions being asked to me, and then I am frustrated. At this point, they had me in the helicopter on the way to the hospital. “What is your name? Can you tell me your name?” asks an older, more urgent female voice. “Call my mom!” I sternly replied. “How old are you?” asks the same female voice. “Call my mom,” I replied again. Then I say her phone number, and finally the lady asks, “Can you repeat that?” Finally, I feel relieved that they are really listening to me.

I begin to repeat the phone number, and I remember using all the breath in my lungs to repeat the number as clear as I could. The first three numbers in one breath, the 2nd set of three numbers in another, then with all the energy I had left in me, each of the last four numbers is said in their own breath.

numbers is said in their own breath.2...

numbers is said in their own breath. 8...

numbers is said in their own breath. 8... 4...

numbers is said in their own breath. 8... 4... 9...

When I am able to breathe the last number, finally, I feel at rest and ask her to hold my hand. She says, “Of course I will hold your hand, and one squeeze from her hand, then I am completely gone. Now, in the present, I realized that I was begging them to call my mom because I didn't want to end things with her thinking I hated her. I wanted them to call her so I could tell her I still loved her, just one last time. I knew that if I died without telling her I loved her, she would believe I hated her even as I lay cold.

Don't wait till it's too late to make things right with family.

Who would you call if you had one last breath?