In the fall of 1982 Jim and I had just gotten possession of a new home which had been damaged by the previous owners (they lost it to the bank and were angry). We were in the process of repairing it so it would be ready for us to move into by mid-October.

One day while Jim, I and Jamie (our 3 year old pre-schooler) were at the house with the plumber and the electrician, the insurance man arrived. Long story short; Jamie went missing and was eventually located in the green, slimy water at the bottom of the in-ground pool. Jim pulled his grey, lifeless body out of the water and “flopped” him on the deck at the side of the pool, performing mouth to mouth resuscitation. The ambulance rushed him to the local hospital where he was stabilized and transported by helicopter to Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto.

Jamie underwent pressure relieving head surgery, was put into a drug induced coma and we were not given much hope of a good prognosis. We were told that there had been 13 near-drownings in central Ontario that year and none of the children had made a complete recovery. To the amazement of everyone including the doctors and nurses, Jamie walked out of the hospital five days later with no evident after-effects, other than a shaved head. They declared his recovery a miracle.

Jamie has since become a pilot and one summer while co-piloting a float plane, he observed a man falling into the water from a boat below them. He had the pilot of the plane turn back and land the plane beside the boat and the submerged, unconscious man. Jamie pulled him out of the water and earned a police citation for saving the man’s life.

What goes around comes around and Jamie certainly has “paid” it forward.

Today he called me to inform us that he received a call from Air Canada offering him a job. Currently he is a captain with Bearskin Airlines and this is the call for which he has been waiting for a long time. Congratulations Jamie, you certainly have come a long way and your whole family is very proud of you!