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Allen Lawless is seen in his home with two of his granddaughters, Athena Workman, 5, (left) and Stacie Workman, 4. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray) |
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Thursday, November 26, 2009
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Less than a week after his 56th birthday, Ira Lawless died.
“I just dropped dead. No warning, no nothing,” he said this week.
“I’ve got a whole world to be thankful for,” Lawless said, as he recounted the circumstances surrounding his death and revival.
In late August, Lawless and some of his family members decided to take his birthday gift — a new boat — to Bowen’s Creek, near Philpott Lake. First, they stopped at a nearby store for fuel.
“That’s the last thing I remember,” Lawless said.
Family members have since told him that he continued to participate in the family outing, boating for a couple hours while eating pizza and other snacks, before heading back to the boat ramp with his wife, Barbara Lawless; daughter; son-in-law; and grandchildren.
Confronted with mechanical problems, Lawless’ son-in-law asked him to get some tools from Lawless’ truck. There, he got pliers, an adjustable wrench and a screwdriver from the tool box.
“I got about halfway back down to the boat” when he fell face-first onto the ground, said Lawless, of Ridgeway.
“My son-in-law tried to resuscitate me,” he said, but those efforts were futile as the family started asking for help.
Two park rangers, Curtis Brooks and Jordan Moore, were among the first to respond, according to Craig “Rocky” Rockwell, operations manager at Philpott Lake.
They found Lawless shaking “as if having a seizure. He had no pulse and was not breathing,” Rockwell said during a recent ceremony to honor Moore and Brooks, as well as Leonard Schlueter, gate attendant; Pastor Jim McClure, a park volunteer; and Henry County Sheriff’s Deputy J.S. Semones for their efforts to help Lawless.
The group did not speak during the ceremony, but Rockwell said their roles were “pivotal,” their efforts heroic, and that they exemplified the park’s dedication to its visitors.
Brooks called to Semones, who radioed 911 for help. Then Brooks and Schlueter “started administering life-sustaining CPR” while Moore made sure Lawless’ head was positioned correctly, Rockwell said. Semones maintained control of the crowd and directed traffic, while McClure “gathered the family and started a prayer vigil,” Rockwell said.
“It was 15 minutes before Bassett Rescue Squad got to me,” Lawless said. Later, in talking to squad members, Lawless said he was told he had “turned completely black in the face and had no heartbeat” when the rescue squad arrived.
A defibrillator was used to “shock me,” Lawless said. “They got me on the gurney and were ready to leave the parking lot when I stopped breathing again,” Lawless said he was told.
The defibrillator was used two more times before he was airlifted from Memorial Hospital in Martinsville to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Lawless said he has been told.
He spent the next 21 days on life support and in a coma.
“The doctors said I had no brain pattern, my kidneys were shutting down, I had fluid in my lungs and was starting to develop pneumonia. They told my wife I was a vegetable and it was possible I would never leave there,” Lawless said.
At one point, Lawless said, “the doctor indicated he wanted to pull the plug” on life support. The doctor told Lawless’ wife that her husband was taking only one breath for each three provided by the ventilator, he said.
But “my wife, Barbara, never gave up,” Lawless said. “She told the doctor ‘my God has brought my husband back three times ... God is not done with my husband.’”
On the 22nd day, a doctor checked on him at 3 a.m. to find Lawless “still comatose and slowly dying,” Lawless said he has been told.
A little more than three hours later, “I was setting up in the middle of the bed looking around,” Lawless said. When his doctor walked back into the room and found Lawless in that position, Lawless said his doctor quipped, “I almost had a coronary myself.”
Lawless had triple bypass surgery later. A battery of tests showed that he suffered no brain damage or other lasting damage, he said.
Heart failure is not the first life-threatening injury Lawless sustained.
“When I was age 14, I got bit by a copperhead” and nearly died before he was able to get help, he said. Four years later at age 18, Lawless had a massive heart attack, followed by another in 1997 and another two years ago. That one was followed by a stroke, he said, adding that he stopped working at Stanley Furniture and went on disability at that time.
“It’s just by the grace of God that I’m here to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving,” Lawless said. “I thank God, my wife and sisters” and all who continued praying “I’d pull through. They never gave up on me.” |
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