by Melissa Ferguson
(This story was written about in the Miami News Reader April 8, 1997)
In April of 1997 my son Bradley, who would turn five years old in May, was once again under my feet and causing mischief. Trying to get the dishes done, I handed him a cinnamon roll and told him to sit on the back steps to eat it. There was a above ground pool out back but we had a safety gate built around it and it was locked so it didn’t cross my mind to be concerned about it, especially since Bradley was always the tattle-tale if anyone went near it. With him outside and the baby taking a nap I finished the dishes in about 15 minutes, and it suddenly dawned on me that that was the first time I had had any peace and quiet in months so I decided to take advantage of it. I grabbed a Coke and started to sit down on the couch, when a voice calmly said, “Bradley is in the pool.”
I started to walk to the window, but thought I was being silly so I started
to sit down again. This time the voice shouted at me, “BRADLEY IS IN THE
POOL!” I walked to the window and saw the cat wet, and clinging to the
side of the pool, but could see nothing else.I walked out the door and a calm
took over as I saw my son floating face down in the pool. It felt like I floated
over as I walked, strangely not feeling anything yet. I grabbed him by the overalls
and pulled him out, somehow knowing he had been in there since he first went
out. I found no pulse, and yet was I still calm, though the knowledge that he
probably couldn’t be resuscitated went through my head. We lived out in the
country so calling for help would not get me anywhere; but something guided
me through the house and out the front door and there sat a power line truck.
I screamed for them to help me, and couldn’t stop screaming once I started.
They dropped all the live wires they were working on and ran to our house. They
then took turns doing CPR until the ambulance arrived, at which time he was
brought back. Several hours later he was being just as ornery as ever and we
were thrilled.
The doctors were amazed. They said his blood gases showed he had been under
around fifteen minutes – which very rarely allows a successful resuscitation.
Then, too, we had had a freak freeze the day before. The power line guys were
not even suppose to be there but every time they tried to leave something would
go wrong and they couldn’t get away. Amazingly these men had just taken CPR
classes the month before.
There are too many little details that had to be perfectly in place for this
to have a happy ending for it to be anything but a miracle, and of course hearing
the voice that I feel so privileged to have experienced. God definitely has
other plans for Bradley.
Oh yes, thought you would like to know that the whole time I swore that Bradley
must have been trying to save the cat, later we found out he was having to time
of his life, DUNKING the cat, and lost his balance. He has always kept us on
our toes and will continue to do so thanks to God’s angels above and a few human
ones, also.