So with July 4th fast approaching our family is starting to think about how last year that very night changed our lives forever. My sister, Kelsey, saw it fitting (we LOVE IT) to make an event on Facebook called The Anti-Firework 4th of July. Basically this is just an event to spread the word about what happened to Brandon last year and also tell his story. This is not an actual event but we are hoping that families across the US will jump on board with our family to save other families from going through what we did last year.
Here is what my AMAZING sister wrote...
So I decided to create this event to let people know how dangerous fireworks can be and to hopefully prevent some of you from going through what my family went through last year.
Last 4th of July began what will probably (and dare I say hopefully) always be the worst week of my life. On the evening of July 4, 2011, a firework malfunctioned and blew up in my brother-in-law’s hand while we were having a family get-together at my grandparents’ house. (The fuse ended up skipping basically from one end to the other…my uncle found a large chunk of the fuse on the ground the next day) Minutes later he was whisked away to St. Joseph’s Hospital where he was transferred to Harborview Medical Center by ambulance shortly thereafter in what my dad calls "the fastest legal trip he has ever made to Seattle.” The next day (which was really only a few hours later), my brother-in-law, Brandon, had his right hand amputated 3 centimeters above the wrist. His family and mine spent basically the whole week after the 4th down at Harborview. While at the hospital, Brandon was surrounded by 27 other firework victims in what they called “firecracker row.” Most of the other 27 patients were worse off than he. None of us, including him, knew that fireworks could cause that much damage. He never thought anything like this would happen to him (like many people out there) but unfortunately it did. Let’s just say all of our lives were severely altered in a flash (pun intended). While he is doing amazing and knows that this is all a part of God’s plan, his life has been changed dramatically and he has had to adapt to not only doing things with one hand but also doing things with his non-dominant hand.
This has without a doubt been the most traumatic experience of my life. I can’t even begin to explain how it felt to hear a giant “boom” and then turn around to see my brother-in-law (who I love very much) fall to the ground yelling in pain.
For the above-mentioned reasons, my family and many others who have heard our story have decided that fireworks are not going to be involved with our get-togethers anymore. We are going to have an Anti-Firework 4th of July this year and I would like to ask that you would all at least consider doing the same. I have created this event to hopefully get the word out to as many people as possible. Please don’t let this same thing happen to you or the people you know and love. Please learn from our misfortune so you don’t have to go through the same thing, and PLEASE leave fireworks to the professionals!
Feel free to forward this event on to your friends and family…let’s get the word out! (*If you don’t agree with this, that is your own choice but I would like to ask that you please don’t leave mean/rude comments as this is something that is very real to our family. Thank You!*)
Last 4th of July began what will probably (and dare I say hopefully) always be the worst week of my life. On the evening of July 4, 2011, a firework malfunctioned and blew up in my brother-in-law’s hand while we were having a family get-together at my grandparents’ house. (The fuse ended up skipping basically from one end to the other…my uncle found a large chunk of the fuse on the ground the next day) Minutes later he was whisked away to St. Joseph’s Hospital where he was transferred to Harborview Medical Center by ambulance shortly thereafter in what my dad calls "the fastest legal trip he has ever made to Seattle.” The next day (which was really only a few hours later), my brother-in-law, Brandon, had his right hand amputated 3 centimeters above the wrist. His family and mine spent basically the whole week after the 4th down at Harborview. While at the hospital, Brandon was surrounded by 27 other firework victims in what they called “firecracker row.” Most of the other 27 patients were worse off than he. None of us, including him, knew that fireworks could cause that much damage. He never thought anything like this would happen to him (like many people out there) but unfortunately it did. Let’s just say all of our lives were severely altered in a flash (pun intended). While he is doing amazing and knows that this is all a part of God’s plan, his life has been changed dramatically and he has had to adapt to not only doing things with one hand but also doing things with his non-dominant hand.
This has without a doubt been the most traumatic experience of my life. I can’t even begin to explain how it felt to hear a giant “boom” and then turn around to see my brother-in-law (who I love very much) fall to the ground yelling in pain.
For the above-mentioned reasons, my family and many others who have heard our story have decided that fireworks are not going to be involved with our get-togethers anymore. We are going to have an Anti-Firework 4th of July this year and I would like to ask that you would all at least consider doing the same. I have created this event to hopefully get the word out to as many people as possible. Please don’t let this same thing happen to you or the people you know and love. Please learn from our misfortune so you don’t have to go through the same thing, and PLEASE leave fireworks to the professionals!
Feel free to forward this event on to your friends and family…let’s get the word out! (*If you don’t agree with this, that is your own choice but I would like to ask that you please don’t leave mean/rude comments as this is something that is very real to our family. Thank You!*)
We pray that no matter what your family does this year or how you celebrate July 4th that you stay safe and remember that in one instant everything can change!!
No comments:
Post a Comment