Larry's Story -Page 2

		Then I went further away and saw another electric lift up on the platform of the tent. Another gal and guy were already there and I explained we needed it to lift debris off of two trapped people. This lift worked, but we couldn't get it off the platform down to where we needed it. So once again, I went back to Pat. By this time people were beginning to emerge from everywhere. One was an off duty nurse who was holding Pat's head in traction. That made me feel better that there was someone there to keep tabs on her, so I went again in search of something to lift the wall off.

A little further away was a fork lift truck. I tried it and it worked, but as I started to get it moving I thought that I might get stuck with driving the lift, and not being with Pat. So I hopped off and shouted for someone who could drive a fork lift truck. A woman answered that she could, and we set off back for Pat. By the time we got there, about 10 people were gathered around the wall and had managed to lift it off of Pat. The following day when I went back to the tent to try to collect our stuff, a guy called me over and said he was one of the people that lifted the wall. He said that Pat was turning blue just as they were removing it, but that she went back to normal color almost immediately. The nurse and I put Pat on a sheet of plywood and got her over to the edge of the street. By this time the ambulances were arriving, and they were taking some of the injured. The first two had either been thrown out into the street by the tornado or leveled while running for shelter. Then there were five or six others who had managed somehow to get out into the street and were also waving for ambulances. I thought about using our own van and started backing it up to get Pat, but then another ambulance came. In retrospect taking the van would have been a bad idea, since the roads were getting congested and without a siren and lights we would have been blocked. I called to the paramedics that there were two people down over my way. They came and took over. En route in the ambulance, we were rerouted from the closest hospital to another one. This turned out to be good luck, since the hospital where we went was University Hospital, which has the premier neuro clinic not only in Utah, but the whole multi-state region. It was less than 30 minutes from the time that the tornado hit to when we were in the Emergency Room. There was a neurosurgeon waiting in the hall for Pat along with a team from the unit where she has remained while in Utah. I was treated for cuts and bruises.