memoir essay

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Nathanael DuMont
English 101
Professor Bolton
30 January 2012
Why I’d Rather Walk Instead of Ride in a Golf Cart
As I was getting the wine bottle that Steve, my general manager, had requested, I
happened to look at my phone and noticed I had four missed calls from Mom. I came back out
to the bar and hit the redial button. As the phone began to ring, I started to pour the wine into the
glass Steve had wanted. Mom picked up the phone and began to tell me the unfathomable.
“Victoria’s had an accident”, she said. Those words rang through me as if I had been hit with a
sledge hammer. I hadn’t realized that I lost my grip on the bottle of wine, and it slipped from the
palm of my hands. I tried to comprehend exactly what happened. “She fell off the golf cart and
hit her head on the pavement”, she continued in a panicked voice. She went on to tell me that
she and dad were headed to Georgetown Hospital.
I then set out for the Georgetown Hospital. I arrived at the hospital in about 3 minutes,
considering I went 60 mph in a 35 mph zone. I was waiting outside the hospital for what seemed
like forever, pacing until the ambulance arrived with Victoria. When they finally arrived, they
began to unload her from the ambulance. She was on a stretcher, and her arm fell off the side
lifelessly as they were getting out.
Mom, Dad, and I entered the hospital behind Victoria, and waited in the consultation
room to speak with the doctor and find the extent of Victoria’s injuries. The doctor came in

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around half an hour later, and told us that they would be transferring her to MUSC Children’s
Hospital. Mom and Dad were told that they couldn’t ride with Victoria in the ambulance, and
that they were going to have to ride separate. So, I took Dad’s truck, which he drove to the
Georgetown Hospital, and went to gas it up while Mom and Dad waited at the hospital, where
Victoria still resided. I arrived back at the hospital, and they were getting ready to load Victoria
back up for transportation. Mom turned to me and said, “Will you see to it that Katelynn and
Noah get to Mrs. Chapman’s house?” I nodded my head in compliance.
I rushed home from the hospital to get Katelynn and Noah, my youngest siblings, to Mrs.
Chapman’s, our neighbor’s house. I stopped by my parent’s house and grabbed a few clothing
items, so the kids would have a change of clothes for school the next day, and dropped it off on
my way to Charleston.
On the way down, I called Uncle Steve, whom knows the area better than I because he
lives in Mount Pleasant, and asked him how to get to MUSC Children’s Hospital. After he gave
me the directions, I hung up the phone, determined to get to the hospital as fast as I could. Upon
arrival, I found mom and dad in the hallway outside of the ICU, and found out that they had not
seen Victoria since they arrived at the hospital. I proceeded to find a doctor to demand to know
what the status of Victoria was, and came across an intern student. I told him that my parents
and I were anxious to know what was going on, and asked him if he could tell us. He told me he
would go find the doctor for me so we could find out.
Two minutes later, and the doctor appeared. He told us that they would be running a
series of tests to see what was wrong with Victoria. After telling us the details, he left the
hallway. I looked over and noticed that Dad was pale and not looking so good. Both Mom and I

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made Dad sit down, for we knew of his reputation for passing out in hospitals. All we could do
at that moment was wait.
When I was finally allowed to go in and see Victoria, I saw how pitiful she looked
hooked up to the machine. She couldn’t even breathe on her own. She had to use a ventilator. I
held her hand, and squeezed it, wishing that she were able to squeeze it back. All I could do was
stand there and watch her, hoping and praying that she would gain consciousness and be okay.
As news spread of Victoria’s accident, it was at the most inconvenient of times. Half of
my siblings were nowhere near Charleston, SC. Everyone was scattered everywhere from Texas,
to a cruise boat about to leave for the Caribbean, to the country of Panama. Danielle, the second
oldest, was debating whether or not to get off the boat before it departed so that she could fly
back to be at the hospital. My parents, however, urged her to go on the trip and told her that there
was nothing that she could do. Griffin, in training for the army, was stationed in Texas and
couldn’t leave the base without special permission. Adham was in Panama, and was not able to
receive the news until the next day.
Using Skype, we communicated with the family daily. Everyone wanted to see Victoria,
so Mom video chatted with them one by one. She brought them into the ICU, and showed them
the condition Victoria was in. Adham gave the worst reaction of all. He would only reply with
short answers after seeing her, and was crying on the video chat. Knowing that he wanted to
come home, but that it would take at least two days upset him. Skype was definitely a help,
considering all the support we received.
After an excruciating week, Victoria had started to wake up from her comatose state.
They had found that she had two subdural hematomas, so they did brain surgery on her. After

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that, her brain swelling went down. When I heard that she was starting to wake up, I let a long
and much needed exhale out. This was only the beginning of a long recovery.