Road Warrior Blog

13 December 2007

Time to share my story and why I’m here

Posted by Julie Hurley under: Julie Hurley .

I love to write, so there’s a slight chance that my blogs are going to be loooong.

I have only been running for eight months, so it’s sometimes hard for me to actually consider myself a runner.  I had my second child in Feb. 07 and wanted a quick and easy way to lose some of the baby weight. My mom had taken up running the year before and had mentioned that she was going to run the 2007 Fifth Third 5k and wanted to know if I’d join here. Usually liking a challenge, I agreed.

I still remember the very first run I went out on. We have a block in our neighborhood that’s 0.8 mile long and I had decided that this would be a good start for me. My mom came over to watch the kids and I headed out the door. Looking back on that afternoon, I can still see the moment my journey as a runner began. There was no other way to begin than by taking that proverbial first step, so I put one foot in front of the other and took off. I plugged in my iPod and immediately welcomed the distraction of my music. It was overcast, biting cold and all I was wearing was a t-shirt and shorts, but I knew then that this was something I could be good at and look forward doing for a very, very long time. It took me about 12 minutes to run that 0.8 mile.  

I have a tendency to really obsess about an idea or concept, even if I don’t follow it through to the end. There’s a stash of crochet hooks and yarn in my closet, along with sketch pads with professional pencils. I also have a whole mess of scrapbooking materials that I haven’t done much with just yet. But, after reassuring my husband that I was serious about running, we purchased a double jogging stroller so I could take the kids with me on my runs. 

So, for the entire month of April, when it was warm enough, I’d bundle the kids up in the stroller and jog around our neighborhood. Reese usually fell asleep and Bodin quietly relaxed in his seat. On April 30, after getting back from a run with the kids and my mom, I was making cookies. I had gone into another room to check on something, when I heard the most gut-wrenching sound; a low growl from our dog, a loud thud, and then the sound of Bodin screaming. I raced into the kitchen to see Bodin lying on his back, with a literal pool of blood forming next to his head. Our dog had bitten him in the face. I could not believe how much blood there was. There was a large gash between his eyes, a flap above his eyebrow and a puncture wound on his cheek. I gathered him up in my arms and ran to find a towel to stop the bleeding. He was terrified at this point and I was shaking so hard I could barely function. I called 911 and told them what had happened. It’s so cliche, but time truly seemed to screech to a halt while waiting for the paramedics to show up. Bodin was crying and kept looking at me through blood and tears. I called my husband from my cell phone and told him to meet us at the hospital. I had not shed a tear yet at this point. I really felt something take over my body to help me do what I needed to do to keep it together for Bodin.  The paramedics came and cleaned him up a bit, then they strapped his car seat into a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. They also put Reese’s infant car seat into the ambulance and we took off.

From the moment Bodin got into the ambulance, I did not see him cry once. He pointed out the “big truck!” he saw from the window and we talked about how we’d get to see Daddy pretty soon. That is the point where I broke down and started crying. The paramedic riding with us said that I had done a great job in remaining calm.  

We got to the ER and by this point, Bodin was really doing pretty well. The bleeding had stopped and he seemed to be in fairly good spirits. In fact, he was put into a hospital bed and was watching a movie by the time my husband was escorted into the room. Bodin was lying back on his pillow, hands folded behind his head, when my husband appeared in the doorway. He looked so casual and relaxed that we all laughed for the first time. For the next few hours, Bodin wandered the ER halls, never content to just stay in once place for too long.

In order for the plastic surgeons to perform precision stitching, Bodin need to be put under. This was very, very hard to watch. Never before have I wanted to trade places more with another person than I wanted to do with my son. We got to be with him while they administered the drugs, and the images from that still pop into my mind more frequently that I care for.

He needed over 60 stitches to repair the damage. One of the stitches was anchored to the muscle around his eye, but there was no muscle damage, nor any damage to his tear ducts. I don’t know how or why he managed to escape more serious harm.

We got home from the ER around 10 p.m. that night. We settled onto the couch for our usual routine of watching a movie before bedtime. After about 20 minutes, Bodin turned to his dad and said “Shoot? Shoot!!” meaning that he wanted to get up and play with his basketball hoop. I didn’t know how good of an idea that was, but I was not going to tell Bodin “no” to anything for a while. Wearing only the oversized long-sleeved t-shirt from the hospital and still sucking on “binks”, he wobbled over to his ball and began playing around. It was amazing to watch. He was still completely groggy from the sedation, and his face had started to swell slightly. He had to be exhausted – 10 p.m. is very late for him to be up. But, he acted like nothing had happened, and continued to behave that way for the remainder of his recovery.

I, however, was a mess. I talked to my mom about a week later and we both talked about how much this accident had affected us. We both stopped running, although it would have probably been great for my anxiety and stress if I had continued to run. But I didn’t want to leave Bodin’s side. She said that she didn’t think she would be able to run in the 5k, and I had thought - for just a moment – the same thing. But, then I thought back to the night when Bodin wanted to shoot hoops and how strong he was throughout the whole ordeal. He was only 21 months old, and the victim, yet he acted stronger than any of us. Life continued on as normal for him when he woke up the very next morning.

It was very inspiring and emotional to me, and I had never really consciously thought of it that way at the time. I didn’t want to make a big deal about the 5k and do a “Run for Bodin” or something of the like. That would be too dramatic and not my taste. However, I drew strength from my son, and fought through the guilt of doing something for me so soon after something so tragic had happened for him.

The 5/3 run was my first 5k, and I continued to run four more this year. After posting a time of 34:15 in my first race, I was determined to knock off some time and now currently run a 27:11-minute 5k.

I’m again so honored to be able to share my story and be a part of this wonderful group of people.

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