Dana’s Christmas heroes
It was just before Christmas when Dana Carr nearly left her little girl, Emma, without a mom. She needed a Christmas miracle. Luckily, she would get more than one . . . Dana is a single mom.
It was three days before Christmas, and Lowell, Arkansas, single mom Dana Carr was packing for her upcoming move.
Just then, she felt an odd sensation in her arms and legs. And though there was no chest pain, she suddenly began fighting to remain conscious . . .
“Emma! Come quick!” she called for her seven-year-old daughter, punching 9-1-1 into her phone, then instructing, “Please unlock the front door and wait for the ambulance.”
She’s all that little girl has!
Meanwhile, at the local fire station, the five members of the B shift were discussing holiday plans when the medical emergency call sounded.
“At Christmas?” Captain Joe West shook his head as he and firefighter Stephen Magner raced to their truck and ambulance with fellow firefighters and EMTS Nathan Warrell, Dakota Medina and Nick Warren.
Still in her pajamas, Emma was waiting at the door when the crew arrived. “My mom’s in the bedroom!” she said.
“Ma’am— can you hear me?” Stephen asked carefully, and Dana nodded weakly.
This doesn’t look good, Stephen— a 12-year veteran of the force—knew.
As Emma told some of the crew about her dolls, the others wheeled Dana to the ambulance— and Dakota thought of his own daughter. Bailey Grace was about the same age. What if something had happened to him? No child should have to deal with that— especially at Christmastime! he thought.
“We’ll take good care of your mom,” the men vowed when Dana’s friend Kim arrived to stay with Emma. But when they received an update on Dana, their worst fears were confirmed: Dana had gone into cardiac arrest. She needed a bypass and new aortic valve. The doctors only gave her a one-in-five chance of surviving the night.
“Dana’s a single mom. She’s all that little girl has!” Captain West sighed.
When Nick noted, “I didn’t see any gifts. I guess she hadn’t shopped yet?” the five men headed out to buy coloring books, dolls and art supplies for Emma.
When Captain West dropped off the gifts, Emma’s eyes grew wide with delight. Ripping into the paper, she stopped worrying about her mom for just a few minutes.
The rest of the crew headed to the hospital with flowers. There, they learned Dana had survived surgery, but was hardly out of the woods.
“Keep fighting. Emma is counting on you. We all are!” they encouraged.
To the doctors’ amazement, Dana survived the night and the next. And on Christmas Eve, she opened her eyes. She couldn’t speak yet nor remember much of what had happened to her. But as friends assured her, “Emma’s fine,” she smiled and drifted peacefully back to sleep.
In the coming days, the fire crew continued visiting Dana and checking on Emma. And once Dana was released from the hospital, they even helped her and Emma move into their new house! Today, Dana has made a complete recovery. And this holiday season, she’s throwing a “Stayin’ Alive” disco party with five guests of honor: the crew of B shift. “Dana is living proof that even though we see a lot of terrible things, miracles do happen,” says Stephen. “This wasn’t just Dana and Emma’s Christmas miracle. It was ours, too!”
“Without them, I wouldn’t be here, and Emma wouldn’t have a mom,” Dana marvels. “They are, and always will be, my Christmas heroes!”
— Bill Holton
“Christmas is not a time nor season but a state of mind.”