April 10,1987,Jeremy fell into our backyard swimming pool and was
only in the water for two minutes or
less. He was given C.P.R. within a
couple of minutes of being pulled from
the pool. Paramedics arrived
within five minutes, they worked on
Jeremy for five minutes and
transported him to the hospital, which
took another five minutes. During
this time Jeremy was not breathing and
had no pulse.
In Taylor
County, at that time, our E.M.T's were only equipped with
basic life-saving equipment. It took
two injections to Jeremy's heart to
regain his heartbeat once he was in
the trauma room. He was then
life-flighted to Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare.
We strongly
feel, had our E.M.T.'s been provided with advanced
life-saving equipment, the outcome of
Jeremy's condition could have been
greatly improved.
Jeremy
spent 31 days in the hospital, 6 months in a rehab hospital
During that time we learned as much
as possible on how to care for
Jeremy at home.
In the
last twelve years since his accident, Jeremy has had G-tube
feedings, scoliosis surgery, hip surgery,
tendon releases on both legs,
2 hair-line fractures ( just above the
knee ) three wheelchairs, several
splints and braces, and thousands of
hours of physical, occupational,
speech and vision therapy.
Today,
Jeremy is still unable to walk, talk, eat by mouth and is
vision impaired. But one of our greatest
achievements in the last five
years is that he can blink his eyes
for "yes" and has a blank stare for
"no". He has limited use of his hands,
but we hope in the future he will
be able to use a talking switch.
What does
the future hold for Jeremy? Only God knows. But I'm sure
it will include endless hours of therapy,
specialized equipment, a
special school like Gretchen Everhart and a loving
supporting family.
Thank
you for visiting Jeremy's homepage. If you have any
questions or concerns, please email
us, or if you have Pow Wow chat
program, we can set up a date and time
to chat.
Sincerely,
Paul, Debbie and Jeremy Croft
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