Male Family Trait

My studly youngest son was asked to speak with the High Counselor in a neighboring ward at church last month. (this means that it wasn't our congregation, but he was accompanying a man who has various responsibilities in other congregations in our area)

Because Michael has been asked to serve a mission to Brazil and he has to wait several months to leave due to difficult VISA requirements, he has time to prepare and help out here in many regards.

This speech, or talk as we refer to Sunday sermons, was going well and he apparently was discussing our Morman pioneer heritage and how we can learn and grow from these men and women from the past. When all of a sudden there arose.... such a clatter.

He fainted. Right there in the middle of his talk from the pulpit.

Down he went. The Bishop of the Ward (who was a brand new called Bishop) tried to catch Michael with the help of one or both of his councilors who were sitting next to him next to the podium.  The story is that Michael took them both down with him as he fell. I assume he tried to stand as long as he could, so by the time he fell he was completely out. 

He has never fainted before, but I used to do it regularly when I was in pubescence, so I know to sit down before it is too late. Such an experienced fainter wouldn't have landed so hard.

Now there was an experienced emergency response fan in the congregation that morning. Our friend Dale immediately called 911 when he saw our sweet son go down in front of the audience.  

But after a couple of minutes of fanning face, talking softly to wake him up, and getting him up to standing, Michael convinced the Bishopric and folks on the stand that he was AOK and got right back up to finish his talk.  He thought the drama was over, but when he was finished and comfortably seated back in his chair while listening to the High Councilor give his talk, he got a wave from the back of the audience and motion to him to please come back and get checked out by the .... paramedics.

He reluctantly left the chapel and was checked out by the arriving team of paramedics. They took his vital signs, did an EKG to make sure his heart was acting appropriately, and called his Dad who was in another church that morning. 

When Dad and I talked to the paramedics per phone, we told them that if Michael checked out okay, we would prefer for them not to take him to the hospital. He probably just stood too long with locked knees on a little sleep and an empty stomach. So they let him go back into church and finish his day without any more problems.

I told him in the afternoon about my brother doing the same thing when he was giving a talk as a newly wed, probably in his early 20's.  We found out later that 2 of my nephews have done the same thing too.
They must get stressed and not realize it as they are standing up in front of a big crowd. Locking their knees causes the blood in their bodies to pool in extremities and away from the brain, which loses oxygen and then shuts right off. What a great family legacy.

Later on when I was talking about the morning to Michael and our lunch guests, I stated that the friend of ours in that ward is "an ambulance chaser."  Michael had never heard that term and inquired about it.

This man that called 911, I told Michael, has an interesting hobby. He has police scanners in his home and listens to emergency response personnel quite often. I wasn't being rude about him, I was merely stating the facts when I called him and ambulance chaser.

Michael piped right up and said, "Well I'd do that way before I'd knit for a hobby."

Ouch.