A Story Of Hope And Healing For Christmas
Sometimes the news is just too bleak to regurgitate day after day. Every once in awhile we have to focus our attention on more hopeful subjects, like this story of young girl who overcame tremendous odds and inspired a tough and inured newsman to share an uplifting moment with his audience.
Austin is known for a lot of things but one thing that may not be the first that comes to mind when you think “Austin Rhodes” is….”Tender-hearted”. But he is. He’s a big ole softie at times, in fact. And if you don’t believe me, just listen to this sweet story:
Young Girl Overcame Tremendous Odds – Paige’s Story
Austin: Had a note in just a little while ago. Austin, it’s Christmas time. Please tell me you have some good news to share today. I’m sick of all of this. TRUMP Blah, blah, blah. Biden Blah, blah, blah. Crime, blah, blah, blah. Please help us get into the Christmas spirit. Did you happen to see the video that I had posted appended at the top of the page a while back? And it’s still there. It’s still there. Have you ever seen that video of my son Beau having the foot race? Oh, yeah. With the little girl. Did you did you read the story that went with it?
Michelle: I didn’t. I didn’t know the story behind it
Austin: Let me see if I can get through this without choking up. And I doubt that I’m going to be able to, but…..I’m going to try. Okay. So this isn’t about Beau, I mean, it’s much more than that. So. December 2nd, 2022. I don’t do this very often, but as someone who does believe in the power of prayer and positive thinking, I would ask that you take a moment. And pray for the complete recovery and restoration of this precious young woman.
She was an adorable toddler when we first met her and when we saw her last spring at 13 years old, she was full of great stories about her traveling fastpitch softball team, and she was thrilled to be back in Augusta to enjoy another Sunday at the Masters with her dad. Tragically a few days ago, Paige was hit by a car and critically injured. And while she is getting the very best of care, she needs divine support for a complete recovery.
Please take a moment to say a prayer for Paige and her mom and her dad and everyone who loves her. She is indeed a bright light in all of their lives and this world needs her spirit and talent to shine for many years to come. New Year’s Eve 2016. That’s the video that I posted.
Seven years ago, Paige challenged Beau to a 40 yard dash in the Steelers practice facility in Pittsburgh. They were in the locker room. She beat him. And I’ve never seen Beau smile in defeat. But he did that day, and I put the video there. God bless you, Paige. You have our hearts and our prayers behind you.
So. I posted that December 2nd. Christmas morning. I met her father at Children’s Medical Center in Pittsburgh and Paige was still in critical condition at that point. And you could tell he was… His face was red. When he came down to see me, she was in ICU. I couldn’t get up to see her but when he came down… he was wearing this goofy tie.
And I said, What in the world? Where did you get that from? And he said, Paige bought this for me a week before her accident. And I opened it this morning. I said, Well, if that doesn’t get her up in a room, nothing will. And he smiled and he said, I hope, you know from your mouth to God’s ears.
And that little girl had a traumatic brain injury. She had a severely broken leg and hip, if I remember correctly. And other injuries that went with it. She was hit by a car going about 45 miles an hour. She stepped off a curb, she had a group of girls I think with her. I think it was her her softball team or they were they were at a basketball game, a group of them. And she stepped off the curb and a car going too fast hit her.
It’s a miracle that she wasn’t killed right then and there. And the first conversations that I had with her dad, who’s been a friend of mine for a long time, were not good. And he said, I don’t know if she’s able to get through this. Paige is his only daughter and the light of his life and his wife’s life and… it was tough. It was tough.
I very rarely ever had a close interaction with somebody who’s got a child in such a position. I have had that situation occur with people who have kids that are sick. I’m not saying that it’s any worse or better. What I’m saying is a little bit different in that normally illnesses every now and then when they hit you from out of the blue, like this poor child.
In Columbia County, the middle school student passed away recently. But most of the time, if you get an illness with the child, it’s something that you kind of brace for and you start dealing with. And, you know, it’s it’s kind of a slow motion thing. When an injury hits you like this, certainly a death, it’s a whole different mindset. And like I said, it’s been a long time since I’ve been around any parent going through something like this with a child, thank God in heaven. My friends and family, for the most part, have been spared such things.
But this this family was hit really hard. Well, I was sent a note few minutes ago, it’s been over a year now, and Paige is doing great. She did recover like we expected that she would. Like we hoped that she would. And just a few minutes ago I was forwarded an article, it’s running up in Cranberry, some place called the Cranberry Eagle and I want to share this.
“Paige visits Heroes at Quality EMS”. Christmas came early, at Quality EMS on Monday, when crews received a surprise visit from a familiar face. Paige, a ninth grade student at Mars Area High School who was struck by a car November of 2022, along Route 228, came carrying holiday treats and a special thank you card for the men who helped save her life just over a year ago.
The card read. “My heroes.” Deputy chief paramedic Keith Singleton, who worked with Paige when she was rushed to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh last year insisted that she was the real hero. Singleton said, quote, “We just drove her to the hospital.” Singleton said he threw the book at her on their race to the hospital that night, meaning that they did everything that they could possibly do. “We broke every rule imaginable to get her to the hospital because everything you were supposed to do was not working.”
As a seasoned paramedic, Singleton said the loneliest place in the world is in the back of an ambulance. He said the ride is very often only the patient and the paramedic. Both fighting an agonizing 30 to 40 minutes, the 30 to 40 minute battle to the hospital. It’s the loneliest place in the world. Most people don’t realize that when they see an ambulance going out.
Conrad Pfeifer, executive director, said the ambulance drivers that night, chief crew emergency medical technician, Heather Flack and Keith represented the gold standard for that agency. “I use her as an example of how to get somewhere quickly and safely in dire circumstances.”
With the further assistance of retired deputy chief paramedic Pat Kelly, Singleton said the crew safely delivered Paige to the medical teams in the hospital last November. It was like we’ve run out of normal stuff to do. What else can we do for this kid? And we did it. And it worked to keep her alive.
The real thanks, Singleton said, was owed to the diligence of the agency and its partnership with UPMC. It was crazy, he said. But she’s doing well. She’s going to be dealing with this for the rest of her life. But she’s walking and she’s talking. And what else could you ask for? Well, she’s doing a lot more than just walking and talking at this point. She’s doing great.
He said he organized the visit following an update from Paige’s mother last month, the anniversary of the accident, November 29th and confirmed that Paige was back in school full time. And had returned to playing competitive softball. She’s still learning how to get her speed back and how to run properly. But she isn’t backing down and she never will. She hopes to be fully back in the spring for more softball and then travel softball over the summer.
One interesting side effect from this is that she did have to kind of shift her focus athletically because of the demands of softball. You know, you can’t really run that hard when you’re recovering from something like this. So she really got into golf and she was on the golf team this past year, which is amazing for somebody who’d been through what she went through. I just threw that in there by the way, that wasn’t in the article here.
The medical team Quality EMS had been following Paige’s recovery, according to Pfeifer, and the visit proved a unique opportunity for them to meet with her for the first time since the incident. “It was great to see her. That was a big surprise.” Paige was given a complete tour of the facility.
Singleton said he shared his own story with her about recovering from an accident in his youth, he got hit by a car around the same age. It was in a rural part of Ireland. He got hit by a drunk driver. Singleton said it was nice to relate to Paige through the story and to experience a positive outcome from his work. It’s definitely one of the calls that stays on your mind a bit. Did we do the right thing? Was there anything that we could have done differently? Seeing Paige’s recovery first-hand proved a gratifying experience for the crews.
And all my years of doing this, I’ve never seen a recovery quite like that. It worked out really well. The dedication and professionalism of the crews played a large part in ensuring that things worked out the right way. These crews, no kidding saved her life. That’s what he said. Wow. How cool is that?
So, this past spring, one of the things her dad did to encourage her to keep up her therapy is… don’t know if you’ve ever been through an injury like that or an injury involving your legs or your your hips or anything. Childbirth, I imagine is a small version of it.
Michelle: Yeah, my mom had some difficulty walking after her surgery so I get it.
Austin: So, you know, she’s going through therapy, trying to walk again while those bones are mending. And you can imagine as a growing young lady, she’s also, you know, growing on top of that. The good news is that helps you heal faster, but there’s a lot of pain involved. But she never backed down from it, from what her dad told me.
And I saw the pictures, we kept up with them. This past spring, one of the things that he did to kind of, you know wave a carrot in front of her face was to tell her “You know, we’re planning on going back to the Masters this year. So let’s let’s make sure you can walk out there. We don’t want to be in a wheelchair if we don’t have to be.” And she said okay.
And she worked her tail off. And they never come with the mom when they come down here because the mom’s not a golf fan. But she came this past year when Paige did make enough progress to come, and she was basically there for support, for moral support. She didn’t go to the tournament, didn’t want to, but we went to dinner the night before and had had a great time out and I remember a paramedic walked in. We were at Luigi’s, a paramedic walked in and Paige’s eyes immediately lit up and her mom said she has new heroes now. She used to love to watch the baseball players, the Pirates and the Steelers. And she has new heroes now.
And by the way, speaking of the Pirates, they got word of her recovery and they had her throw the first pitch out in one of their baseball games this year. How cool is that? So she she’s on the way back. And I had hundreds of people respond when I told that story and asked, you know, for prayer and support. And they came through and God came through it.
And the medical miracle that played out in this little girl’s life, I mean, they I’ll never I mean, when you hear a father say that his 13 year old daughter may not be around in the next day or two, I mean, God in heaven. And she and Beau. Same. Same age. Crazy.
I used to tease him. I kept that video. I used to tease him. Hey, don’t ever get too cocky because Paige beat the hell out of you in that race. Oh, she did? Yeah, she did Immediately do A 40 yard dash. Or she knew because she’s an athlete. The instant the 40 yard dash was over with, she stopped. Beau, who was a good two steps behind her immediately turned around and ran back the other way.
And he kept looking behind him like, Where are you going? I said, But it’s a 40 yard dash, not 80 yard dash. She beat you there. No, she didn’t. She did. She did. Okay. And anyway, I love to pick on him about that. But watching that little miracle happening. And keeping up with her has been really great.
And so I thought I’d share some good news with you now, Paige is recovering and again, someone who has shown enormous courage and strength and also a lot of cool things happen for her benefit that I never in a million years could have predicted. Including this cool little thing. She was standing at a spot at the National with her and her dad and a mutual acquaintance of ours comes up to me, actually and says “Is this Paige and her dad?” Yeah.
So we have a special message. We need them to come with us right now and immediately you wonder “Uh-oh, has somebody done something?” And she had a they brought her walker with her, in case they needed it, but her dad was carrying it because she was getting around pretty good. But she kind of needed to get over to the spot where she was being summoned pretty quickly. So they got a golf cart over for her.
She was being summoned to the Butler cabin where Joe Jonas was waiting for her. And some mutual friends of ours had told some of the folks at CBS what was going on, and Joe was hanging out with the folks in the Butler cabin. And what’s really funny about that was I don’t know if you remember what was going on the Saturday night before that Sunday, the Master’s last year.
But Joe Jonas was on Saturday Night Live, live at 1:00 in the morning. And he would stand on the stage waving everybody. And at 9:00 Sunday morning, he was at Augusta National. Somebody had a special flight in. But the fact that they sent word to Paige so he could visit with her and you know, get some pictures and autograph and that kind of stuff. How cool is that? Very cool.
So this young lady blessed beyond all measure and I cannot thank all of my listeners who said a prayer for her enough. And that kind of puts a bow on that story. She’s going to continue to work on her recovery. And she’s doing nothing but getting bigger and stronger she’ll probably end up being a college golfer before all is said and done if I know her family right. How’s that for a happy story? Pretty cool, huh?
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