‘I really just wanted the chance to say thank you’
Armstrong Ambulance paramedic helped saved their lives in 2018 accident
April 29 is a significant day for Littleton newlyweds Lisa and Pat Lowe. On April 29, 2018, the pair, along with their dog, were hit and seriously injured by a 17-year-old driver in Medford, who was later found to have been under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident. One woman, Judith Moses, 64, was killed, as was the couple’s dog. Just one year later, on April 29, 2019, Pat, 30, proposed to Lisa, 31. And this year on April 29, the pair met one of the paramedics who saved their lives.
“I really just wanted the chance to say thank you,” Lisa Lowe said. “If everybody hadn’t done their job so well, at least, especially on my end, like I wouldn’t be here.”
The Lowes were walking their dog on a Sunday afternoon when the driver first struck Moses, then continued down Spring Street in Medford, where he struck the couple before slamming into a nearby Citizens Bank. Pat Lowe sustained head injuries, which left him bleeding profusely, while Lisa, more severely injured, could have lost her legs. Luckily, Lisa Lowe said Thursday that she remembers none of what happened that day.
Pat Lowe does remember that day, though, and described the care and speed the first responders used on the scene. “They just looked at it right away and made a very quick decision, which obviously, was a very good deci
sion,” he said of their move to quickly transport Lisa to Mass General Hospital. “They were really nice, really just, they’re excellent. Yeah, it’s just the best way to say it, and I don’t think Lisa would be here as she is without them.”
Lisa Lowe, who came to the event with a long gray brace wrapped around her left leg, said she faced a long recovery, but her job as a physical therapist and her hobby as an athlete helped her heal. “It’s continuous, like, work, but at this point, it sort of just feels like my usual like working out as an athlete, not so much like the nitty gritty, rehab-y pieces, like the beginning was,” she said, adding that she went rowing Thursday morning. “I definitely have an appreciation now, whenever I work with people, for that part of the process.”
The Lowes had already connected with the paramedic, Nick Henderson, before, and he attended their September 2020 wedding via Zoom. Screenshots from the Zoom call show Henderson beaming as the couple stood at the altar.
Thursday, however, was the first time Henderson met the Lowes in a meeting staged at Armstrong Ambulance’s Arlington office. After Pat and Lisa Lowe gave Henderson big hugs, they recalled the day Henderson saved Lisa and shared memories of the couple’s wedding. Henderson said it was “awesome” that she was able to dance unencumbered that day.
“It’s amazing,” Henderson said of her recovery. “Especially considering the injuries that Lisa had, and to, you know, just under two years later or so, to have that kind of recovery and be dancing at a wedding, to be honest, I was honestly expecting maybe a cane, or wheelchair.” Although he credited Mass General and the rehab services Lisa received for her recovery, “there’s only so much that they can do without her pushing herself too,” he said.
Lisa Lowe also showed Henderson pictures of the couple’s two new dogs, a pair of giant English mastiffs, and shared that they had since moved from Medford to Littleton after the accident to increase their living space. Patrick Lowe said he loved the walking trails and nature in Littleton for the dogs.
Although Lisa Lowe is not able to run — one of her favorite workouts preaccident — she is working toward that goal. “To me, it’s like, well, they went through all this effort to save my legs, I might as well put them to good use,” she said with a chuckle. She added that if and when she gets her knees replaced in the future, she will be able to run again. “Not to be too cliché, but one step at a time,” Henderson added. She said she considers it a triumph that she’s able to unload the dishwasher.
She added that she now understands how big of a deal milestones like that are for her patients, just the “everyday stuff,” as she called it, and how important they are to leading a normal life.
Lisa Lowe and Henderson, as medical professionals, later geeked out over X-rays and photos of her shattered legs, filled with metal pins. “Holy smokes!” he exclaimed as he studied the X-ray. He called the metal-filled image “like a hardware store.”
She also showed him photos of her scars as they have healed.
Although Lisa Lowe said it’s easy for her as a physical therapist to think of her accident in terms of surgeries and therapy milestones, she also acknowledged that “if I was in the middle of nowhere, like I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t have legs,” she said.
“They were able to do their job efficiently, well enough that like I got there, (and we’d like) the chance to say thank you for that since we can,” she said.