When the Odds Are Stacked Against You

Matthew Stevenson and John Flanagan probably didn't intend to save any lives that day in January. They were just taking a normal flight to Jamaica, a relaxing vacation, both men traveling separately but with a common likeness between them. They were both anesthesiologists and both worked at the same private practice.

In the middle of the beginning of their vacation, an elderly woman on board went into respiratory arrest. There were no manual respirators on board. They were thousands of feet in the air. What do you do when the odds are so clearly stacked against your favor? The answer is to improvise. While Flanagan administered CPR on the woman, Stevenson cut the tubing out of one of the oxygen masks on board and connected it to an oxygen tank. The woman started breathing normally until they were able to make an emergency landing in Fort Lauderdale 45 minutes later.

Think of the last time a situation seemed impossible to you. Think of yourself thousands of feet up in the air, no resources, no materials that you need. The saying goes "Necessity is the mother of invention." Was that woman lucky to have medical professionals on the plane? Yes. She was even luckier that she had two people who in the face of extreme crisis, kept level heads and were able to get through what could have been a disaster. That's what you need to do when your find yourself unable to find hope, when you’re out of air, and there’s no way to breathe. You improvise. You make something happen. You find a way to live.

By, Stephanie Foltz