The story behind the pictures
recover, Joe breathed a sigh of relief. After seeing his son’s x-ray, Joe posted, “It looks like most of Home Depot has been screwed into Michael’s pelvic bone!”
After twenty-five days, it was time to leave the hospital. Siskin Hospital was the next stop, for physical rehabilitation. “I had lost the strength in my legs,” Michael said. “I wanted to get better immediately. I would do whatever it took, no matter how much it hurt.”
Michael’s dad beams with pride. “I thought we had lost him, but he never gave up. He’s an Eagle Scout. When he starts something, he finishes it.”
He adds, “This was a miracle from God. The firefighters, Life Force, and the surgeons were amazing. But as one of the doctors said, there was too much going against him for his healing to be just great medicine.”
He also remembers Michael’s ride home upon his release from Siskin. “These guys I work with, from Lt. Austin Garrett to all the rest,” he said, “they did a motorcycle escort for him, all the way from Siskin to the house. It was a happy day. Not long before that, they were planning a different kind of escort.”
Michael told his dad, “I don’t deserve this attention.” Joe said, “I told him he absolutely did. He used to repair everybody’s car for free in the school parking lot. He’s always done things for others. I told him it was okay to let people do something for him.”
By Thanksgiving he was using crutches, with Samantha still by his side. “She would help me practice walking, even when a few steps would wear me out.”
Around Christmas, Samantha took him out for some fast food. “We just sat in the car and ate,” Michael said. “It was so good to breathe some fresh air, and Taco Bell never tasted better.”
As January arrived, he had regained enough mobility to begin planning a short hike at Fall Creek Falls. “It will be just the two of us,” he told Samantha.
Last month, they took that hike. When they got to a certain spot, Michael paused, and got down on one knee. That was a risky maneuver he had practiced for days. “Will you marry me?” he asked.
As she shrieked, “YES!” family members, hidden away in the woods, were quietly taking photos. They were in on the secret, and Michael had quietly choreographed their every move, from parking spaces, to hiding places.
Michael will be back at work soon. Sometime in 2019, there will be wedding pictures. “She’s really something,” he said of Samantha. “I couldn’t have made it without her.”
He concluded, “These great people, especially Samantha, made this possible to get through, but it was God who put them where they needed to be.”
David Carroll, a Chattanooga news anchor, is the author of “Chattanooga Radio and Television” and “Volunteer Bama Dawg,” a collection of his best stories. Books are available at ChattanoogaRadioTV. com, or by sending $23 each to David Carroll Book, 900 Whitehall Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You may contact David at 3dc@epbfi.com.