BREAKING A LEG AND SAVING A LIFE

On the last day of the eighth grade, my niece, Andrea, ran across the street from her house to jump on the neighbor's brand-new trampoline. Andrea could already imagine spending many summer days trying to reach the clouds with each jump.

After one of those high bounces, something terrible went wrong. As Andrea returned from the high in the air, she didn't land on the stretched polypropylene mat of the trampoline but fell hard on the metal frame. Her leg was broken in two places and required a cast extending from her thigh to her foot. That fall on the trampoline ended her summer dreams of running through the neighborhood, playing softball, water skiing, and jumping.

My brother, Tim, worked on the railroad during this period of his life. He was scheduled to work that eventful day but called to tell them he was taking the day off because his daughter had been injured.

While playing with a train set as a kid was unending hours of fun, working on freight trains is often grueling. Locomotive engineers, brake, signal, and switch operators keep trains moving. Since trains operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, employees work odd hours in all kinds of weather. They have to deal with cars and trucks stalling on the tracks, cows not realizing a train is coming straight for them, and the injuries and deaths resulting from collisions. Surprisingly, a train is rarely damaged in those kinds of crashes.

One man posted on a blog for railroad workers: "It's a tough life. I've missed countless birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I've had rocks thrown at me and been shot at. I've walked trains in the dead of night, in the blazing sun, in the pouring rain, and in driving snow. I've seen two co-workers injured so badly they can't return to work. And worst of all, I've buried one co-worker killed on the job."

While he was taking his daughter to the doctor, the man filling in for him was working as an engineer on the front locomotive along with two co-workers. They had finished their run for the day and were directed by the yardmaster to park the train on one of the maintenance tracks used for inactive trains; only the yardmaster erred. The problem was it wasn't a dead-end track. As the train was pulling onto the track, another train on the same track was heading for them at speed too fast to stop. The head-on collision resulted in all three men being decapitated.

Tim was shocked to hear that the man replacing him had been killed. While grieving for his co-worker, he also felt tremendous relief and realized that his daughter's injury had saved his life. Shortly after the accident, Tim resigned from working on the railroad. I asked him if he felt his life was spared that day for a higher purpose, as you often hear from people when fate saves them to live another day. He doesn't feel that way but cherishes that his daughter saved his life, even though she suffered a summer.

My brother never returned to working on the railroad. However, a part of him thinks he'd be enjoying retirement with a pension at this point. But life always has its twists and turns. He's right where he's supposed to be––alive and well. Those of us who love him are so happy he's still here!