Haley's Miracle
Our Little Angel
Accident, ak'si-dent, n. An unforeseen, unfortunate and unplanned event or circumstance resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance. Haley Torkelson, age 7, has to be the bravest, strongest little girl I know. On the morning of 8-22-03, Haley suffered a gunshot wound to her chest. Two of her cousins, Brandon, 15 and Chris, 16, were shooting .22 caliber rifles that morning at my mom and dad's farm. The kids were staying the weekend at the farm. The kids are not allowed outside when the guns are out, so when Brandon and Chris put the guns away the kids went outside. Haley was now outside playing with her younger brother, Trevor, minding their own business. Brandon and Chris got bored sitting in the house and decided to go outside and shoot rifles again, this time without permission. When the boys came outside with the rifles to shoot targets, Haley decided that she wanted to watch from the side and Trevor went to play by the swing set. Chris and Brandon sat on the front step and loaded both rifles with bullets. When Chris went to put the plunger back in the tube where the bullets go, it would not fit. Chris thought something was wrong and he was going to take the rifle apart to see what was blocking the plunger. He then dumped all the bullets out of the tube, which is right under the barrel of the rifle. He thought he dumped them all out, but there was still one in there. He then pulled the bolt back, for some reason, to make sure there was not a bullet already in the chamber. When you pull the bolt back, if there was a bullet in the chamber, it would eject. Since one did not eject, to his knowledge the rifle was empty. Instead of visually looking in the chamber he just assumed, since a bullet did not eject, it was empty. Instead, there is now a bullet in the chamber and the rifle is loaded. He then continued to take the rifle apart. When he had it tore down he finally realized what the problem was. When he loaded both the rifles with bullets, he had both plungers lying next to each other on the front step. Then he had picked up the wrong plunger and it would not fit. Now Chris says to Brandon, "Oh, I see what the problem is. I had grabbed the wrong plunger, for the rifle I was holding, there is nothing wrong with the rifle." Chris starts to put the rifle back together. Chris had the barrel of the rifle, between his legs, pointed towards the ground the whole time. Although, when he was concentrating on lining up the hole for the screw, the barrel started to rise up and was pointed in Haley's direction. Chris then accidentally bumped the trigger mechanism, causing the rifle to discharge. The rifle went off before anyone knew what had happened. Chris looked up and saw Haley holding her chest. She was only about 10 feet away from the rifle. The bullet hit her traveling approximately 1,000 feet per second. The shock wave from the bullet traveling this fast is enough to rupture organs and fracture bones. He knew right away what had just happened. Chris threw the rifle down and ran into the house to call 9-1-1. When the bullet struck Haley, she said it felt like someone hit her in the chest with a hammer. Then she said everything went white and she thought she was dreaming. In shock, Haley got up on her own and walked into the house holding her chest. She went up to her grandma, who was rocking one of the younger grandkids to sleep, and says, "Grandma, I've been shot!" In disbelief, my mom thought she was joking since she was standing there and was not crying. Haley pulled up her shirt and showed my mom the wound. My mom laid Haley down, on the couch, right away, so no further damage could be done. Haley asks, "Grandma am I dreaming?" My mom says, "No Haley you are not dreaming, you really have been shot." She then asks, "Grandma, am I going to die?" Trying to remain calm my mom says, "No Haley, you are not going to die." The Currie First Responders showed up extremely quick and started caring for Haley. Haley was then rushed to Slayton Hospital, where later a trauma helicopter would be dispatched from Sioux Valley Hospital; in Sioux Falls, SD. Dr. Rizvi assessed her situation and referred her to Sioux Valley Hospital. The Bell 230 Intensive Air Helicopter was dispatched from Sioux Valley Hospital. The helicopter traveled at a speed of 150 mph, taking 23 minutes to reach Slayton and 22 minutes to fly back to Sioux Valley. In the meantime, in fear of what might happen to them, Chris and Brandon fabricated a story about what happened. Chris lives with my mom and dad on the farm and there is not too much for him to do out there, so for fun he likes to shoot the rifle. Chris was on probation from some trouble he had been in earlier and is not allowed to have firearms. This is the main reason for him lying, to the police, in the first place. First, Chris put the rifle back together before the police officer got there and put the other rifle away. They told the police that the rifle was leaning up against the house, tipped over, hit a stone statue and discharged on its own. This way it looked like to the police officer that Brandon was the one that was going to shoot the rifle and Chris would not get in trouble for breaking his probation. We did not find out what really happened until Haley got home from the hospital. Roxanne and I were phoned and notified of the accident right away. We work the night shift at Jackpot Junction Casino/Hotel in Morton, MN. We had just got home about 2 hours before this so you can imagine how tired we are at this point. Chris was telling me the story very fast over the phone and I didn't understand a word he was saying. I almost hung up the phone because he wasn't making any sense. I then told him to slow down and tell me again. All I remember hearing were the words: bullet, gun and Haley's chest, then I fainted. I couldn't even stand up, I was shaking so badly and I couldn't breathe. I can work in 100-degree heat without breaking a sweat, but the sweat was running down my face at this point. It was the worst feeling I have ever experienced in my whole life. I started hitting the side of the bathtub, to get my wife's attention, and Roxanne came in and asks, "What's wrong?" I couldn't even talk so I just pointed at the phone and she picked it up and got the story from Chris. We were both a mess now. I put my head under ice-cold water in the bathtub so I could catch my breath. We both threw on a change of clothes and we were gone. We got into our car, put our flashers on and were on our way to Slayton Hospital, approximately one hour away. Roxanne called the hospital and gave them our cell phone number so they could contact us. All they told her was to hurry, it didn't look good. I saw a Lyon County Sheriff's car coming in the opposite direction. Mind you, I'm driving 100 mph, I stopped him right on the road and told him that we need an escort to Slayton; our daughter has just been shot. He said that they are not allowed to do that due to liability reasons. I told him that he better get out of my way then because I'm not slowing down for anyone. He told us to be careful and then radioed ahead to all the other police officers that we were coming fast and not to pull us over. It seemed like forever, like time stood still, the drive was so long. We were about to Cottonwood when our cell phone rang it was the hospital. They said, "It's worse than we thought. She is being air lifted to Sioux Valley. You need to go to Trauma Center 5 when you get there." That is all the information they had for us, talk about nerve racking. We had no idea what to expect once we got there, but I kept trying to be optimistic. Although, I was in the Army National Guards for 8 years, so I know what kind of damage rifles can do. Once we got to the Emergency Trauma Center, we were brought to Haley. I was pleasantly surprised that she was awake and somewhat alert. Haley was laying on the bed, in a lot of pain but calm as she could be. She was just trying to be strong for us, so we wouldn't worry so much. We went up to her and she says, "Mommy and Daddy I've been shot! I got a helicopter ride too. I didn't even cry when the doctor gave me a shot in my arm. Look at the teddy bear I got from the doctor in Slayton." I couldn't believe how alert she was. She was having a hard time talking so I told her to save her energy and not to talk unless the doctor asks her a question. She had just got back from having a CAT scan done on her. Dr. Glatt came in to talk to Roxanne and me about what he thought. Dr. Glatt said, "First of all, I'm optimistic. Her vital signs look good, but we will not be certain about all the damage until we actually open her up and see. People do not get shot in this region of their bodies and live to tell about it. Being so young she doesn't realize how severe this injury is. She definitely had a guardian angel on her shoulder this morning. This truly is a miracle!" Roxanne and I think more like five guardian angels: Roxanne's grandpa Dallas Reek, Roxanne's grandma Leona Gerdes, my grandma Frances Weinberg, my best friend in the whole world and one of Haley's godfathers Gabe Ribera, who passed away in a car accident 3 years ago, and Roxanne's brother Kenny Reek, who also passed away in a car accident 13 years ago. It was also Kenny's birthday the day of the accident; he would have been 30 years old. It was somewhere between the doctor saying it's a miracle and the chaplain coming in to say a prayer that I had to leave the room. My knees got weak again and I felt like I was going to pass out, I felt totally helpless. All I remember is looking down this long hallway and I fell to the floor. I broke down; I couldn't stand to see my baby girl in so much pain. Then I felt like I needed to pull myself together and be strong for Haley, she was the one suffering. After that, my wife and I never left her side the whole time she was in the hospital. The bullet entered the left side of Haley's chest, missing her heart (by 1 centimeter), major arteries, esophagus and stomach. Pretty much anything that would have killed her. When a bullet strikes a body it doesn't travel in a straight line, it ricochets all over (luckily for her). However, the bullet did go through her right lung (which amazingly didn't collapse), diaphragm (the muscle that helps us breathe), through her liver and remains lodged in her back. "Medically the bullet could stay in her, unless it starts to bother her. We will not take the bullet out at this time because she has been through enough trauma. Not too mention that her whole chest will be opened up so we will not do surgery on her back also", said Dr. Glatt. Haley will have the bullet removed on September 8th, 2003 by Dr. Glatt. Haley was rushed into emergency surgery where they cut her from her chest to her belly button. Dr. Glatt thoroughly looked around for other damage but surprisingly found nothing except the lung, diaphragm and liver damage. In surgery, Dr. Glatt saw that the bullet went very close to the lowest part of her heart, by one centimeter. The liver is an amazing organ, which can heal itself. Therefore, the liver had stopped bleeding already on its own, by the time she was in surgery. The doctor decided to leave that alone and just monitor it by blood work to make sure everything remained normal. Although he was afraid when he opened her up that the pressure on her liver would be relieved and she could bleed to death. Dr. Glatt repaired the damage done to her diaphragm. Then he wanted to make sure there was no damage to her esophagus or stomach. He put a tube with a camera attached to it down her throat to visually inspect it. Luckily, everything looked normal and there were no holes from the bullet or traces of blood. Waiting for the surgery to get over was the worst part. Once again, it seemed like forever, as if time stood still. There were a couple of nurses who kept us informed, every hour, throughout the surgery on how everything was going. We were counting the seconds until our next phone call to see how she was doing. Three hours later, once the surgery was complete, Dr. Glatt let Roxanne and I know how the surgery went. We were so relieved that everything went well and our little girl was alive! Then we were brought down to the recovery room to see Haley. She was a bit groggy from the surgery yet, but alert. Through this whole accident, she had been alert and remembers a lot. She is such a bright girl and anyone who knows Haley can tell you how smart this little girl really is. Haley was then transported to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, where she would spend the next three days and two more days in a regular room. All of the nurses there were great and took wonderful care of Haley. The first morning Haley woke up at 4 a.m., she looks at me and says, "Daddy, can you tell Chris I forgive him? It's not his fault, it was an accident and I know that. I'm not mad at him either. Actually, can he come up to see me today so I can tell him myself?" Not too many grown-ups could make a statement like that under those circumstances and so soon after the accident. Haley has always put her loved ones first, next her friends and finally a distant third, herself. She really is an angel sent from God. Not once through this whole accident has Haley once cried or complained. It makes me look at life a whole lot differently now. She is way too mature for her age and I wish sometimes she would just act like a kid her age should, but that's Haley. It's hard as a parent to see your children in pain. I had a tough time dealing with that. One night, about 3 a.m., I was sitting next to Haley's bed and was just staring at her. She had taken a morphine shot not long before that, so I thought she would be out for a while. I started thinking about how close we came to losing our little girl. I put my head next to hers and started to cry. Next thing you know this little hand touches my head and she says, "It's ok daddy, I made it and I'm going to be ok." I then laid her hand on the bed, held it and said, "You just worry about Haley and no one else and let me take care of you." They encouraged Haley to get up and walk around as much as possible. So one morning I took her for a long walk and showed her around the hospital the best I could. We ended up taking a break by one of the play areas they have for kids. We were playing games together on the computer and Dr. Glatt saw us. He said, "Haley, I see you've been walking around this morning. I think after dinner I am going to send you home." The whole time Haley was in the hospital she didn't have much of an appetite and didn't eat much. This was partly due to her throat being sore from the tube they put down it. Dr. Glatt thought it would be better for her to go home because a lot of times kids tend to eat better at home rather than in the hospital and she really needed to eat. We were really nervous about bringing her home, it seemed too soon after the accident. What if something would go wrong, we wanted her close to the doctor. We became extremely protective of her after the accident. Dr. Glatt said that she would be alright as long as she started to eat and didn't get a fever, which would indicate she was getting an infection. After we got home, Haley said that she wanted to talk about what happened. She said, "You always tell us not to lie, so why are you lying for Chris?" Roxanne asked her what she meant by that. She said that Chris was working on the rifle when it went off and it was never leaning up against the house. I had to confront Chris and Brandon separately about what Haley had said and they both came clean and told the truth this time. They were just scared of the consequences so they lied about what happened. Then they were scared to go back to the police and tell them the truth because they were afraid what would happen because they initially lied. I then contacted the Murray County Sheriff's Department and they came back to the scene, where the accident was reenacted for them. The police officer was satisfied with the new information and took new statements from Chris, Brandon and Haley. Chris was later charged with reckless discharge of a firearm. As far as Chris goes, we've talked to him and let him know that it was an accident. I hope he learned a valuable lesson from this. This will be something he will have to live with for the rest of his life, not too mention Haley also. We want to thank Chris and my mom for remaining calm and thinking fast on what needed to be done. It was Chris's and my mom's quick thinking that helped save Haley's life. All I want from this accident is for everyone to learn something. Maybe taking a little more care around firearms and being aware of the dangers, especially with the hunting season just around the corner. Treat every gun as if it were loaded. You can never be too careful around firearms. Maybe always be honest no matter how severe the consequences might seem. Maybe think twice next time we yell at the kids for leaving there bikes in the driveway and just be thankful they are alive and can ride a bike. Like my dad always tells me, "Your health is your wealth." I'm just thankful Haley is still healthy and is going to be ok. We came so close to losing our little girl forever. I also think that a person's success in life in not judged by a W-2 form, but by what our children think about us. We think the world of Haley and she thinks the world of us. Take an extra minute tonight, sit down and talk with your kids. Tell them EVERYDAY how much they mean to you and how much you love them. There are many people I would like to thank. I would like to thank God for giving our little girl a second chance at life! I do not know what He has in store for her, but He kept her around for a reason. They say everything happens for a reason so I'm sure Haley is going to do something extraordinary in her life because of that. She wants to become a nurse or a doctor and help people, like she was helped. Dr. Rizvi and especially Dr. Glatt, you two saved my daughter's life! There is no way I can ever repay you for that, but I will always remember you in our prayers. Haley has Dr. Glatt's photo in an angel frame above her bed. She thanks him every night, in her prayers, for saving her life. Roxanne said to Dr. Glatt, "God put you on this earth and gave you the gift you possess to save people lives." To this day Dr. Glatt has not taken any credit for this, he says he's just doing his job. Well, keep doing what you do Dr. Glatt, you definitely perform miracles everyday. I want to thank my dad for all his love and support he has given me. You'll always be my hero dad, I love you. Mom, I don't know where to start, you have just as big of a heart as Haley. I want you to know that you helped save Haley life! I love you more than you will ever know. Roxanne, my beautiful wife, we've been through a lot in the last eight years together, but this tops everything. Through this all, we stayed strong and by each other's side, we make quite a team. We are inseparable and we are going to stay that way, I love you, honey. Trevor, my strong little man, you have been brave through this whole situation and been such a big boy. I cannot imagine how scared you were when you seen your sister get hurt like that. You'll always be Haley's BIG, little brother, always protect your sister no matter what. I want to thank the Currie First Responders for their quick response time, keep up the good work. I would like to thank the Children's Miracle Network for all they did to help our family. I want to thank my family, relatives and special friends who came to see Haley or just kept her in their prayers. I want to thank Corey Bill, Eli Hewitt and Ryan Helget. It's nice to have friends like that, whom you can always talk to no matter what. I want to thank Our Saviors Lutheran Church of Sacred Heart for all your prayers and support. I want to thank everyone at Jackpot Junction Casino/Hotel for their support and gift of money. I want to thank Haley's teacher and classmates for coming all that way to see her. It was so nice to have Haley's friends around her too, she really liked that. I want to thank KELO-LAND TV (Whitney and Mike), The Hoven Review (Garnet) and The Argus Leader (Denise and Chris) for running Haley's story on her one year anniversary. While she was in the hospital she wanted to be on TV and in the newspaper so people could see how dangerous guns can be. Haley's dream is to someday be on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, maybe someday that will come true. Most of all though, I would like to thank you Haley. No one of the face of the earth could ask for a better daughter than you. You are my angel and always will be. You have been such a brave girl through all of this. You are stronger than anyone I know. I LOVE YOU HALEY! I wish I could have switched places with you that day and I was the one who took the bullet. Whatever you do or become, do not ever change, just keep being the way you are.
Love Always and Forever,
Dad, Mom and Trevor
Click to see Haley's accident pictures.
Haley's Accident
We are very lucky Haley's still here,
She looked death in the eye and showed it no fear.
The day started out so sunny and clear,
Then we got a call all parents would fear.
Haley's been shot she needs urgent care,
It didn't sound right it didn't seem fair.
All she wanted was to go out and play,
Who knew the price she was about to pay.
The rifle discharged with a loud bang,
Throughout her whole body this shot rang.
She walked to the house it hurt her so bad,
All she wanted was her mom and her dad.
Her grandma was there to comfort her through,
Luckily for us she knew what to do.
The wrong place at the wrong time that day,
God held Haley's hand and said it's okay.
God's hands were wrapped tightly around her heart,
He kept her here and gave her a new start.
Haley remained calm and stayed so brave,
Her angels came for her life to save.
She was brought to Sioux Valley to Dr. Glatt,
He saved her life with the skills he was taught.
He did his best to keep her alive,
That is the reason she survived.
This is the start of the long road ahead,
"It's a miracle" is what Dr. Glatt said.
To Dr. Glatt how can we ever repay,
For you saving our daughter's life that day.
Not a day goes by we don't think of you,
You mean so much if you only knew.
You can never be too careful near a gun,
Maybe too careless or maybe too young.
Remember gun safety and all the rules,
Guns are not toys so don't act like fools.
The moral of this poem is clear to see,
My family means the world to me.
Love, Dad!
Here are more people who have featured Haley's Story. Click the names to read more:
KELO-LAND TV
The Hoven Review
The Argus Leader