May 31, 2008
Spent all morning at the Red Cross Center on I-17 and Bethany Home Road. Kathy, who's a disaster relief volunteer, signed us up for CPR training. Got there at 8:30 and went into a classroom in the basement where Sarah, the instructor, went around the room and asked people to state their name and why they were attending the class. My daughter summed it up when she said, "My name is Deena and I'm related to half the people in this room and we're here because of my dad's heart attack. We want to be able to respond like his friends did, who saved his life." Actually, there were more than half, with seven out of 11 in the class being Radinas and Bells.

The class was great and I really had to marvel (and shudder) all over again at the degree of luck I had in Kingman. For some reason I mistakenly believed that CPR resuscitated the heart and got it going again, kind of like jumper cables to a truck battery. No, CPR manually circulates blood and sends oxygen to the brain and critical parts of the body until first responders can get there and apply an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) device. When your heart stops like mine did, every minute your body goes without oxygen your chance of survival declines 10%. In four to six minutes brain damage is possible and over ten minutes, irreversible brain damage is certain. So Terry Mitchell, Wayne and Cody Rutschman kept the flow of oxygen going by tirelessly pumping my chest and breathing into my mouth. It's so unbelievably brave to step up like that. Thanks again guys.

During the first break, a fireman in the class came over and told me how lucky I am, that he had never seen anyone survive what I went through.

Regarding Maurice The Breast Starved Cowboy
"We sent old Maurice a poster of the girl sheriff and a couple of calendars. Should brighten up the bunkhouse."
—Scott Weber, The Gunrunner

"The world is divided into two classes, those who believe the incredible, and those who do the improbable."
—Oscar Wilde