Hello, my name is Lori Hartrum. On June 6, 2007 my children, Brandon, Mackenzie, Luke & Logan and Brandon's friend Vance Lovell were walking on a pedestrian bike path & while crossing at a crosswalk, My Son Luke was hit by a car and was thrown over 30 feet!
Luke died 3 times that day & had to be resuscitated. Thank God, a paramedic who lives nearby was mowing his lawn, he heard the call and rushed to the scene and immediately started working on Luke. Thank you, Christopher Post!!
When I got THAT call that no mother wants to get, I didn't even know which child was hit but I rushed to the scene, a police officer was waving traffic to the left and I said, "NO I'm the mom!" So, he waved to me to the right. I parked the car and started running and I saw a medevac to my left, my other children huddled together to the right and an ambulance in front of me. It was then that I knew it was Luke.
I fell to my knees realizing this was not just a minor (bumped by a car, broken bone, go to the emergency room get it casted and go home moment) in my life, NO I realize this was major, serious. I lost it & I remember two men (Christopher Post & another paramedic) lifting me up by my under arms and trying to carry/walk me to the ambulance and telling me to calm down that it wouldn't be good for my kids to see me like that and that if I didn't calm that they probably wouldn't let me see Luke, who at the time was in the ambulance being resuscitated again.
I had to pull myself together because I needed to see Luke and talk to my kids and when he finally emerged on a stretcher from the ambulance to be rushed to the medevac, they stopped in front of me for five seconds and I could see that he wasn't alive so I put my hand on his chest and said "Stay strong Lukey, I love you & I'll see you at the hospital!" they whisked him away to try a resuscitate him again in the medevac!
He arrived DOA at the hospital where he was life-flighted. He had a massive head injury, both legs were broken, his right side of face was shattered, his jaw had an open fracture. Thank God one doctor (neurosurgeon) decided that he was going to do an emergency surgery even though he didn't think Luke was going to make it.
His brain was so traumatized, they removed a portion of his skull to alleviate pressure from the severely swollen tissue. Doctors still didn't think he would make it through the night. But he did!! He was on a ventilator & tube feeling. He just lay there in a coma. Doctors and some people started saying that I should consider unplugging him from the ventilator since they told me that there was no chance of a recovery, that Luke would be a vegetable for the rest of his life and have no quality of life.
No mother would want that for her child so I had a long talk with God and I also had a long talk with Luke praying he could hear me and I told them both if it was there will that I understood that Luke is not my child but God child and he gave up his son for us, whom I to not give up my son to him if that's what he's asking me to do. And knowing Luke he would struggle and live in pain just to not hurt me and I had to tell him "Luke I will be OK, somehow, I will manage, if God is calling you home you go baby. I don't want you to struggle and be in pain!" God put it in my heart that I was NOT to unplug Luke's ventilator.
Some people didn't agree with me, but He did somehow tell me there would be some sort of recovery, even though everybody was telling me there wouldn't be! He never revealed to me what type of recovery but it didn't matter!
I chose not to unplug his ventilator and I Thank God because look at him now!!!!
Thank you for letting me join this supportive Family!
