- Joined
- Jun 14, 2001
- Messages
- 1,256
Hi all,
I hesitated to post this, since this is a difficult story to tell, but I feel that there is an important message here.
I should start off by saying that, of the 30 years of my life, I've never really been prepared for emergencies or a mini-crisis. Didn't start carrying a knife until a little over a year ago, and nothing as basic as a good flashlight or multitool in the house or on my person. Like most people, the possibility of needing any of these things seemed very remote - nothing bad could happen to me, right?
On Saturday, my two boys (ages 10 and 4) were playing with some 1/8" thick rope, taking turns pretending to be a dog and the dog-walker. Of course that means that someone has to have the rope around their neck, and the other holds the leash. At some point, the 10 year old decided to "stake" the 4 year old, i.e., tie the other end of the rope down. Unfortunately, he had unwittingly tied a slip-knot around my younger son's neck, and when my younger son tripped, the loop became uncomfortably tight.
My wife was the first to notice that something was wrong, that he was choking. She yelled to me to get the rope off of his neck. Like most of us here, I had several knives within the immediate vicinity of the accident; however, I was disinclined to use them right away since I did not want to stab or cut my youngest boy by accident. Fortunately, I had a Leatherman Pulse nearby as well (it had just come back in the mail the day before from getting a sheath fitted). The Pulse has a pair of scissors, and I somehow remembered that the scissors were of the sheepsfoot variety.
After what seemed like a long time, with my boy's lips and face turning blue, I was finally able to work a finger between the rope and his neck, and slide the scissors down into the opening, and cut the rope. My boy is OK now. We took him down to the ER to have him checked out. No broken bones in the neck area, and he regained the color in his face after about 30 minutes. Back to being a happy, energetic 4-year-old within a couple of hours. Afterwards, he told me that he was trying to tell me to "use your knife, daddy!"
I want to thank everyone here at BFC who helped me to see that being prepared, while cumbersome at times, might actually be a good idea. I never thought I would actually use it, but I liked the idea of having the tools necessary to handle many situations. I do wonder what the outcome might have been if I had not developed this sense of preparedness and self-reliance - I certainly would not have any sharp knives around, nor a multi-tool, and who knows where the scissors would have been (they float around my house).
So, I guess the message here is please - if you've not given much thought to preparednesss beyond "what is the best EDC knife", please do yourself a favor and start thinking about the other essentials for emergency situations. There is a wealth of information here at BFC, as well as many experienced, knowledgeable people who are willing to share information and answer questions. Take advantage of it!
Finally, please do not think that I wrote this as a self-congratulatory post. This was a difficult story to tell, not only because I choke up when I think what could have happened, but also because I know that I failed in my duty as a parent. I had instructed my oldest boy to cease with the game, but failed to follow-up and make sure the game had ended - an unfortunate consequence of having three active children to look after as well as all the duties of maintaining a household - but a mistake that won't happen again!
Thanks again everyone.
Matthew
I hesitated to post this, since this is a difficult story to tell, but I feel that there is an important message here.
I should start off by saying that, of the 30 years of my life, I've never really been prepared for emergencies or a mini-crisis. Didn't start carrying a knife until a little over a year ago, and nothing as basic as a good flashlight or multitool in the house or on my person. Like most people, the possibility of needing any of these things seemed very remote - nothing bad could happen to me, right?
On Saturday, my two boys (ages 10 and 4) were playing with some 1/8" thick rope, taking turns pretending to be a dog and the dog-walker. Of course that means that someone has to have the rope around their neck, and the other holds the leash. At some point, the 10 year old decided to "stake" the 4 year old, i.e., tie the other end of the rope down. Unfortunately, he had unwittingly tied a slip-knot around my younger son's neck, and when my younger son tripped, the loop became uncomfortably tight.
My wife was the first to notice that something was wrong, that he was choking. She yelled to me to get the rope off of his neck. Like most of us here, I had several knives within the immediate vicinity of the accident; however, I was disinclined to use them right away since I did not want to stab or cut my youngest boy by accident. Fortunately, I had a Leatherman Pulse nearby as well (it had just come back in the mail the day before from getting a sheath fitted). The Pulse has a pair of scissors, and I somehow remembered that the scissors were of the sheepsfoot variety.
After what seemed like a long time, with my boy's lips and face turning blue, I was finally able to work a finger between the rope and his neck, and slide the scissors down into the opening, and cut the rope. My boy is OK now. We took him down to the ER to have him checked out. No broken bones in the neck area, and he regained the color in his face after about 30 minutes. Back to being a happy, energetic 4-year-old within a couple of hours. Afterwards, he told me that he was trying to tell me to "use your knife, daddy!"
I want to thank everyone here at BFC who helped me to see that being prepared, while cumbersome at times, might actually be a good idea. I never thought I would actually use it, but I liked the idea of having the tools necessary to handle many situations. I do wonder what the outcome might have been if I had not developed this sense of preparedness and self-reliance - I certainly would not have any sharp knives around, nor a multi-tool, and who knows where the scissors would have been (they float around my house).
So, I guess the message here is please - if you've not given much thought to preparednesss beyond "what is the best EDC knife", please do yourself a favor and start thinking about the other essentials for emergency situations. There is a wealth of information here at BFC, as well as many experienced, knowledgeable people who are willing to share information and answer questions. Take advantage of it!
Finally, please do not think that I wrote this as a self-congratulatory post. This was a difficult story to tell, not only because I choke up when I think what could have happened, but also because I know that I failed in my duty as a parent. I had instructed my oldest boy to cease with the game, but failed to follow-up and make sure the game had ended - an unfortunate consequence of having three active children to look after as well as all the duties of maintaining a household - but a mistake that won't happen again!
Thanks again everyone.
Matthew
