How about some good news for a change? The headlines are littered with stories about crime, drugs, corrupt politicians (looking at you Joe), and generally bad news every day. A palate cleanse is good for you on occasion.
There are still positive stories out there. I realize our mainstream media is broken, but there are occasional feel-good pieces that remind you all hope is not lost, and everything might just be ok.
One such example comes out of Utah, where a 9-year-old boy survived an ordeal so terrifying and so improbable that it can only be described as “miraculous”. Whether you believe in miracles and divine intervention or not, the story of Paxton Knight should still make you wonder. Check this out from Breitbart:
A nine-year-old Utah boy returned home from the hospital after nearly escaping death when he was trapped in a truck submerged under water for over ten minutes.
Utah Boy Out of Hospital After Being Submerged over 10 Minutes https://t.co/cUAivZTqui via @BreitbartNews
— Rob Mattox (@RobMattox2) September 6, 2022
I could stop right here and ask what you thought the chances were that he survived, and while you’d say “good” because I have already provided the spoiler, think about it for a minute. Ten minutes under water, even if there was a pocket of air in the truck certainly couldn’t last ten minutes. Sometimes people are in the right place at the right time and are willing to step in.
On August 22, Paxton Knight’s family was loading up kayaks in the truck while Paxton, 9, waited inside with his two-year-old sister, Briana, and another nine-year-old boy.
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At some point, disaster struck as the vehicle started rolling into the water. Brandon Haskell was able to save his granddaughter, while the other nine-year-old was able to escape, but Paxton was trapped.
As the truck rolled into the water, with the family screaming for help, a nearby kayaker, Joe Donnell, rushed to the scene and realized the gravity of the situation.
What are the odds a good Samaritan would be on scene and willing to risk his own life to help? Donnell is a former park ranger with underwater rescue experience and was on scene immediately and diving in. Donnell dove down seven time before coming up with the boy.
It’s hard to imagine a scene like that. The helpless feeling as you see the rescuer come up empty handed time after time, knowing the boy has no oxygen.
On approximately the seventh attempt of diving in, Donnell found Paxton and brought the unconscious boy to shore.
Two other good Samaritans, Fionna Pierce and Chance Peterson, were also nearby and helped keep the boy alive by performing CPR.
My understanding is CPR rarely works, especially in an instance this extreme. Again, what are the odds two people were nearby that even knew CPR, no less were good enough at it to keep the boy alive until EMS could arrive. The odds are slim at best, yet Paxton survived.
“They don’t go that way very often,” Bevacqua said. “For being underwater for as long as he was, it’s honestly a miracle.”
The word miracle is thrown around carelessly sometimes, but in this case it applies. Paxton walked out of the hospital a week and a half later. A situation that should have been tragic was averted because three trained people were in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. Because of that Paxton Knight still has his life, and his family still has him.