If you're looking for a miracle - look no further. Thursday at Twin Lakes was a day noone will forget for a very long time. I will tell you the story from my small part and the small 'coincidences' that occurred from my point of view. I cannot tell you all the little things that others were involved in because there was so much preparation being done on the Lord's part for this all to fall into place. The aftermath of this situation is still ongoing, mostly for the young family that is directly involved, but also I'm sure for those who were more involved at the scene than I was and the memories they have of that brief moment in time - it seemed to last hours.
Here's where my tender mercies started:
1: Lea wanted to ski - we jump on this as she doesn't volunteer for this. We find a driver: Grandpa, a helper in the water - Kraig was eating lunch, but Jonathan was available and sitting by the water. check and check. Tanner needed to get his water-skiing merit badge so he and Rozann I think came too. Plus there's water-fight going on so the safest place is far away from the dock. So we leave the dock. Lea gets ready, skis on, Jonathan ready to get in and she refuses to get in the water. ugh.
2: Ryan has driven his boat over from the other lake - she wants to try
from Ryan's boat. Great, we switch boats. She tries a few times -
screaming all the way.
Here she goes!
so close! one more time
YES!!!
didn't make it super far....but we still did it!
Jonathan giving a pep-talk and we head back to the dock.
3: Here's where the excitement and terror begin.
As I'm walking up the dock, I make it to the end of the dock and up the embankment. I here people screaming. Screaming for my brothers - I start to panic thinking something is wrong with one my family members. This lady, who I don't know, comes yelling for a doctor. I hear another voice yelling for Kraig Sorensen (my brother) The camp is not huge and Kenny's voice can be heard from all over. Trying not to panic, I huddle Lea towards Aubrey and some other kids then try to figure out why this lady is freaking out and needs a doctor. She yells 'Someone's been shot!' Dallin and I take off running towards the tents. Kraig comes running from his cabin towards the tents and yells for surgical gloves - (I have those and mine are right here - I tell Dallin, we get to my parents cabin, frantic search for the gloves) Here Dallin, take those. He flips his sandals off and runs like mad to Kraig. Ryan had been found parking his boat at the dock closest to the accident.
So my first thought after she says someone's been shot and I start running towards the madness is: 'why am I running towards the gunshot? Is it a random shot from the woods, is there a shooter, who do I know that's in a tent, and who in the heck has a gun!?'
4: Lucas had been in the cabin and so was Ammon - I was originally checking on them to see if it was one of them who had been shot. Lucas was just waking up when I went in. I told him to get on the bed by Grandma and STAY there. I didn't want him coming out and getting hit by the ambulance that was supposed to be coming. Which by the way, 911 is not the number you call in an emergency on an Indian Reservation. He stayed put until I came back and told him it was safe to come out. A miracle right there if you know how well Lucas stays put. :)
5: I start again towards the tent site. I see my sister Kristin running towards there as well. I ask her if we know who it is. Yes, it's Kristi Burbank's son - he's 4! (she's still running) I stopped in my tracks, looked to the scene and decided there was far too many people there and I would make sure my kids and Kristin's kids were safe.
Here's how things happened: Kristi and their 1 year old had left the 2 siblings: Natalie (5) and Kyler (4) in the tent to take a nap. Now before you go judging her for leaving them alone - we all do it. Consider the lake one large house - the kids are napping you don't just sit there, you wander around the house, take a shower, etc. Kristi was at her mom's cabin doing just that. The kids had found their dad's gun (he has it all the time with him, but for some reason did not this time and he had left the resort area to go make a phone call - there is NO cell reception so you drive to the next town to send/receive messages/calls. Kyler was playing with the gun when it went off and he shot himself in the right leg just below the hip. The Russian group (another family group that comes up every at the same time) heard screaming, then nothing, then screaming again, then nothing, then screaming again as Natalie came out of the tent - saying 'don't do it again, don't do it again'. That's when they knew the 'boom' and screaming were not fun and games.
3 members of our group (Kristi's cousins): Dan and Evan were right there, applied pressure to the wound and Tim gave Kyler a priesthood blessing - how grateful and blessed to have worthy priesthood holders at all times.
While all this is happening, we go back to where the lady came screaming for my brothers.
6: Dallin, Cameron, and Kolby Nelson: these young men had just been talking to Kyler and his sister Natalie. She told them all about her and even saw Kyler playing with the gun - they thought it was a fake. They were lucky and blessed to have not been shot while they chatted with them.
7: Although it felt like an eternity, the ambulance arrived in 10 minutes. Several family members and others were in the road to keep kids from wandering into the little dirt road. Kristi road in the ambulance with Kyler and the search was on to find Rob (Kristi's husband and Kyler's dad). Kristin, Jonathan, and Ryan became drivers to find him and drive him to the hospital - 2 hours away! Kristi and Kyler took a helicopter to Spokane. Kristi's mom and family took care of Natalie and the baby, cleaned up the tent (after the Tribal police were finished) and sleeping bag where Kyler was laying.
8: When Kyler arrived at the hospital - the doctors believed he wouldn't make it. They gave him 5-6 pints of blood - a small child has around 1-2!! The shot was through and through, missed any bones and although we had originally thought no major arteries were hit, both of them were. It is truly a miracle, he made it to the hospital alive. After several hours in surgery - (we're getting updates from Kyler's family at the lake and from Kristin) - Kyler's leg was saved. The doctors made new arteries from veins in his left leg. Now they needed to watch both legs to make sure they healed properly.
Thursday night I spent the evening with Kristin's kids as she and Jonathan were both gone. I knew the girls would be worried and so I offered to stay with them until Dallin came in from playing games and hanging out with his friends that night. Cameron and Kolby's mom offered to stay too - I'm grateful they came and were staying close by and not in the cabin down at the other end of the lake - the cabin that had been a without electricity from the storm. My parents helped out with watching my kids as they went to bed.
My kids to this day still talk about the little boy who got shot. They made cards at the lake to send to the hospital for him. It was truly a miracle all the people in the right place and enough skills and guidance to help in the accident. After a week, Kyler was released from the hospital and was able to return home to Rexburg where they live. Kristin has a doctor friend in Spokane who has a small apartment as part of his house - he offers it up to anyone who needs it. Kristi and Rob were able to stay there taking turns at the hospital. Kristin and her girls (Aubrey, Calla and Lizzie) drove up one day after we had returned from the lake to give Kristi and Rob a few hours away. They took some toys to add to his toys he'd received from Evan and Charity earlier in the week.
After returning home, he was moving around with a walker and quickly gave that up to walk on his own!
He has had some complications and spent another couple days at Childrens in Boise, but he's doing well. During that week after Twin Lakes, I had the prompting to put together a few gifts for Natalie. Sweet little girl had wanted her dad to know that she did not play with the gun. Now I don't know Kristi's husband or children, but Kristi's mom was my piano teacher when I was younger... and I love this family dearly. Before I could forget, I sent Kristin a text to see if she wanted to go in on the gifts with me. (I sent it at 12 am...oops) She agreed the next day. :)
About 2 weeks after we got home to AZ, Kristin called me and told me she got a phone call from Kristi and Rob - sounded like their kids playing with the phone. It was Natalie opening her gifts - she was so excited! It's just like Christmas. Thank you, thank you!! I was grateful I followed through on that prompting. I'm not sure if I got everything across or remembered everything that happened, but this is what I remember - it's hard to write down the emotions felt during such a high stress time. How do you keep everything 'normal' when everything is not 'normal'?? For the sake of the kids who are scared and the adults who are too, but trying to put on our brave selves until we can secretly fall apart.
Tender mercies: we got on Ryan's boat, skied for several minutes and went back to the shore; Ryan stayed; Kraig had stayed. Jonathan had returned with us to the dock. My dad returned after all the chaos had finished. Noone else was hurt, Natalie was not injured, Rob was found and safely driven at a very fast speed from my sister to the hospital. Friends in Spokane who helped out. Strangers become friends and lives are forever changed. Priesthood power is real - the blessing Kyler was given saved his life. Kyler is alive and moving around is the biggest miracle of all.
