Samuel Aaron Mathis

Samuel’s Story

On Saturday March 22, 2008 my life changed. I was getting ready for a normal day of work and I heard the front door shut. I didn’t think anything about it since my Father goes outside to smoke, and the kids were watching cartoons. Well I heard my dad talking to my oldest son, and that is when I yelled at Jacob asking where Sam was. He answered saying outside. Well I went to the back door thinking he was on the back porch, and I noticed he was actually in my car. I yelled at him thinking he was looking at something on the back of my car, but he didn’t answer. When I got closer to the car I realized it was running, that is when I noticed that the driver window was rolled up on his neck and he was blue, and drooling. I opened the door and promptly placed my arm under his rear end since he was kneeling on the arm rest. I then dropped the window and he just dropped into my arms. As soon as I was holding him he took a gasp of air. He was breathing but it was like he was hyperventilating, and not responding. I gave him a few extra breaths, hoping that it would help his breathing, while I was running in the house with him.

I laid him down on the front room floor crying and talking to him. I frantically called 911 and had my brother on another phone calling my mom and my fiancé. While on the phone with 911 they asked if he was responding. All he was doing was whenever I said his name he would open his eyelids, but his eyes were still rolled back into his head. When the EMS arrived they tried talking to him and still nothing. When they placed him on the backboard is when he finally starting making noises, and coming around. Since I live in a town of only about 1,700 people, the EMS wanted to make sure they got him somewhere that was more adapt to the situation. So finally after about 30 minutes in my driveway we left to meet Life Flight, about 3 blocks down the road. There we waited an additional 15-20 minutes since the helicopter was coming from Bryan- College Station. Once PHI arrived they told me they were flying him to Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin. Once I finally arrived at the hospital which is about an hour and a half from where we live, I was told of his condition. He had suffered 2 seizures and hadn’t waken up yet. He was in PICU over night. I didn’t get any sleep and never left his side.

I knew everything was going to be okay when at 2 am he woke up saying Momma. He got out of bed Easter Sunday and for the first time since I got him out of the car the day before I held him. He tried walking but stumbled and kept falling. I thought that maybe he would have some eye hand coordination problems. My mother stayed with me at the hospital and she left Sunday morning to go home and get us some clothes. We asked Sam if there was anything he wanted, and all he said was his Nemo (Finding Nemo Blanket), and his cowboy boots. Well that afternoon they took us to him new room. He had no neck brace, and all that was attached was the IV tube. The only visible mark was one on his neck, and some bruising from the IV that was in his leg, and on his arm. We were scheduled to see Physical Therapy Monday morning but since he was already up, running and was playing peek-a-boo with the nurses, they canceled it and sent us home. Due to his accident CPS was called, and I got kicked out of my mothers house. It was either the kids go to foster care or I leave. They wanted me and my fiancé to take psychological and drug tests, and parenting classes. I was also looking at criminal charges, all because no one believed me that he did it his self. The day he came home he proved to them that he did do it. All has ended and well, Samuel is 3 now and doing great. The only mark now is a very faint dark line on his neck.