When Someone's Life Hangs in the Balance

 

We have been on many cruises.  Three different times on those cruises, there have been medical evacuations by helicopter.  One of those times, we watched the whole thing.  They first dropped down medics on a stretcher.  They then took up the patient with the medic, then his wife. I still remember seeing her sitting on the stretcher with her purse in her lap.  I think they would have to sedate me to swing from a rope hooked to a helicopter with only a stretcher between me and certain death!  It is amazing they can do that out to sea on a moving ship.

It happened again - for the third time- on our third cruise- the British Isles Cruise.  At about 3:00am one night, the ship's captain came on the loudspeaker and announced that a helicopter medical evacuation was necessary.  They had already gone off our course to get closer to the Scotland hospital.  The captain told everyone to stay off the decks and balconies. He said that it would make us a little late for our next day's arrival at port, and then he ended with these stirring words: "I apologize for that, but I'm sure you all agree it is what we do when someone's life hangs in the balance."

Those words played over and over in my mind as we heard the helicopter come and hover and hover.  Because we had seen it before, we could imagine what was happening, as we lay in our bed.

"When someone's life hangs in the balance."  I thought of other times that extraordinary measures were employed when someone's life hung in the balance.  Remember 18-month-old Jessica McClure who fell into a well in Texas back in the '80s? Workers frantically dug a parallel hole, then a tunnel to reach little Jessica.  The expense was enormous, the man hours overwhelming. An entire nation prayed.  Someone's life hung in the balance.  Every hour, every penny, every prayer was worth it.  I'm sure you can think of other times when someone's life hung in the balance and extraordinary measures were employed to save them.  Maybe even someone you know?

What is the worth of a soul?  Can we put a price on it?  No expense is too great to save a life.

The next day, we thought about and prayed for the evacuated individual.  That evening, I called the front desk to ask if the rescued individual survived.  They didn't know.  But the next day we overheard a lady say that she talked to the captain and that the captain said the individual had survived and was doing well.  That made our hearts fill with joy.  It made us grateful the captain and others had acted as they did when someone's life hung in the balance.