On 2003-01-05 19:24, Supierreman wrote:
Never did I expect that in a split second everything would change ...
Back in pangasinan, I was all set for the trackday... All I can think about during the holidays was the trackday and to be with my car which recently turned 5 years old...
done with the PMS at Honda Pangasinan, checked the car a couple of times... I even bought my helmet at Dagupan...
January 3 2003... around 3:30PM
... on the highway at Macabito, Pangasinan... I was on my way back to Manila to join the trackday the following day...
I was driving along the highway. I even popped in a jazz CD I got from my mom listening while ...cruising at an appropriate 60-65kph higway speed...
at the other side of the road I saw at the corner of my eye ...a kid came running to cross the highway with not even one adult was there to one to accompany him. In an instant I stepped on the brakes as I was pressing the horn button..
too late...... I even veered my car towards the shoulder in the last hope of trying to avoid him. I hit him as I was slowing down at around 40-50 kph...
the kid around 3-4 ft tall hit the corner of my front bumper at the driver's side.. and landed his head on the hood of my car...
as i was simultaneosly veering my car to the shoulder... he landed on the pavement...
I got off the car and approached him while I was shouting at the onlookers not to touch the child to prevent further injuries...
I checked the pulse, checked the pupils for dilatation and checked if he was vomitting...
he was still breathing ....I asked for his name but he wasn't talking... only a faint cry... his mouth was bleeding all over the place
I surmised he had no spinal and cervical injuries I carried him carefully and laid him straight into the backseat of my car taking care not to cause more injuries...
..a crowd was building up but i could not descern what they were saying... all i remember asking them is to tell me where the nearest hospital is...
they told me to head for Dagupan but in my mind I new it was too far... I asked for an alternative... and I was told that the nearest one is a Provincial hospital in Bolingit, San Carlos Pangasinan.
Someone from the crowd (whom I later learned as the "pamangkin" of the child's parents) volunteered to be with the kid on the way to the hospital..
I got on the driver's seat and told my brother and our maid who was with me at that time to get off and commute back home.
I was driving fast and I distinctly remember the shiftlight in my dash go off a couple of times as I was shifting at redline...
I also remeber my car sort of lifted off and felt that it glided in the air in a split second as I passed through a bridge...
I was asking the one who accompanied me if the kid was still breathing... the way to the hospital was a blur ... i even remember my car skidding towards the hospital gate as I made an abrupt right turn...
at the hospital I was mad that no one seems to be around to assist us. even at the bedside there was still no attending phsician and I was even the one checking the vital signs! (%^$#!!) ...I was even the one who bought the mannitol from the pharmacy instead of the nurses. (damn gov't hospital! *&^$%^!)
when the patient's condition was stabilized he was transferred to a much better equipped hospital in Dagupan City...
I was at the police precinct when I later learned from my mom that the child sustained a fracture of the right femur with no hip dislocation... but when he hit his head on the hood... he sustained a slight hemorrhage on the right hemisphere of the brain... and in a scale of 15 he got a score of only 8...
I ask all the HCP people to pray for the recovery of this child whom I learned is named "Ralph Daligdig" ...6 1/2 years old...