Knights in white armor
Last week we reported that prayers, miracles and gratitude were in full force in the tiny parking lot of a quaint country church in Rappahannock.
As the Amissville Full Gospel Church congregation began arriving for Sunday service, sister Jane Pittman, Pastor Jimbo Pittman’s beloved wife, suddenly collapsed while making her way across the parking lot.
Her heart stopped and within seconds of her fall, we reported, a gentleman in a white pickup truck, driving along Viewtown Road, pulled up and applied CPR. The congregation knew not at the
time the identity of this mystery man who miraculously showed up seemingly out of nowhere.
As it turns out, this reporter was not aware of all the facts.
Not only was there one gentleman who pulled up in a white pickup truck, namely newly minted Amissville resident Terry Robey, an EMT and firefighter at Castleton — having recently moved to Amissville from Castleton — but also Josh Smoot, an EMT and firefighter with Washington Fire and Rescue, who simultaneously pulled up in, yes…a white pickup truck.
Both were in the immediate area at the exact time of her collapse, and so they together were on the scene before the Amissville Fire Department could arrive. As several of the congregation stood close by, CPR was administered while Pastor Pittman, with hands tightly clasped, prayed to the Good Lord.
Pastor Pittman tells that doctors relayed without the immediate CPR applied within those crucial initial minutes, sister Jane would have suffered brain damage.
To both of you wonderful men, the church and community thank you from the bottom of a many a grateful heart, as well as to the Amissville Fire and Rescue volunteers who arrived so quickly and administered life saving expertise.
While Jane remains hospitalized, her condition has greatly improved. Pastor Pittman, along with family and friends, remain close by her side. The skill of fine physicians and the power of prayer continue to heal her heart, and her heart heals too, they say, with the knowledge that we live in a caring community with incredibly dedicated fire and rescue volunteers. Bravo.