Today was the day of the track race at St. Canard Elementary. 10-year-old Gosalyn Mallard was racing with a few kids from other schools. Her dad, Drake was helping her get ready. He tied her red-orange hair back.
"You ready?" he asked her.
"Ready as I'll ever be" Gosalyn said.
"You nervous?" Dake asked.
"A little" Gosalyn answered.
"Well, shake it off, slugger. You're going to be fine" Drake said.
Five kids were lineed up on the track warming up. Gosalyn was one of those five kids. She saw her dad and Launchpad in the stands. She smiled and waved to them. Drake and Launchpad waved back.
"She looks like an athlete" Launchpad said to Drake.
"She's an athlete in my eyes" Drake said.
The coach, Mr. Edward Jones, pointed a gun into the sky. "Racers get ready" he said. The crowd began clapping.
Mr. Jones told the racers what to do before giving the signal. "You will run two laps. Run your fastest and hardest, but don't tire yourself out" he said and shot the gun.
The racers took off and the crowd cheered. Gosalyn ran her fastest and was in first place. Drake cheered his daughter on. But then Gosalyn began to slow down. She held her chest. Drake began to worry.
Gosalyn's eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground, head first. The crowd gasped. The race stopped.
Drake and Launchpad rushed out of the stands and over to Gosalyn. Mr. Jones ran to her also. Gosalyn was not breathing or moving.
"Gosalyn! Gosalyn, speak to me!" Drake called. No movement came from Gosalyn.
"IS THERE A PARAMEDIC OUT HERE?" Mr. Jones yelled. A person began to make her way out of the stands.
"WE NEEDA PARAMEDIC NOW!" Mr. Jones yelled.
The young paramedic rushed out to the field. While doing so, she pulled out her radio. "I need an ambulance at the St. Canard Elementary School track field, stat!" she said into it. St. Canard Children's Hospital got her call and immediately sent an ambulance.
The paramedic, Jennifer, began performing CPR on Gosalyn while others around them urged the child to wake up. Jennifer wanted a moan, a whimper, or a stir; something to show a sign of life, but Gosalyn showed none of those signs.
Next Jennifer checked for a heartbeat and pulse. Gosalyn had neither one! When Jennifer found out that the child had no heartbeat, she knew that Gosalyn was in serious trouble.
The ambulance pulled up to the school and two more paramedics rushed to the scene. One, Jayla, was carrying supplies and the other, Jospeh was pushing the stretcher.
"What do we got?" Jayla asked when they got to the track field.
"A little girl, about 10-years-old, collapsed during a field race" Jennifer said.
Jayal connected the child to a telemetry transmitter and a pulse monitor. Neither machine showed a beat.
Jayla then took out a defibrillator machine. She rubbed the pads together and placed them on Gosalyn's chest. "Clear!" she called. Everyone around Gosalyn backed up a little and Drake and Jennifer took their hands off Gosalyn.
Jayla gave the pads a hard push on Gosalyn's chest, which gave the child's body a jump. But Drake's little girl still showed no signs of life.
Jayla tried one more time. She called clear and pressed the pads against Gosalyn's chest. Gosalyn's body jumped again, but still showed no signs of life.
Jayla and Joseph, quickly but carefully, put Gosalyn on a stretchboard and strapped her on. Then placed on the stretcher and strapped her to that. Launchpad was going to follow in the car while Drake went with the paramedics.
Another paramedic, Josephine, who waited in the ambulance saw them coming. "What do we got?" she asked when the trio got there.
"She collapsed during a track race" Jayla answered.
Josephine helped Joseph and Jayla lift the lifeless child into the ambulance. Drake climbed in after them.
While Joseph drove to the hospital, Jayla and Josephine were in the back of the ambulance, trying to get Gosalyn's heartbeat and pulse back. Drake was sitting on the passenger side up front, watching worriedly. The paramedics urged Gosalyn to breathe as Jayla held an oxygen mask over the child's beak. Drake could only think the worst.
Once at the hospital, Dr. Julie Jamison helped Jayla, Joseph, and Josephine get Gosalyn out of the ambulance. Drake helped too. They all rushed her to the E.R. where more doctors were waiting. "What happened?" one asked.
"She collapsed during a track race" Jayla said. Gosalyn's heartbeat and pulse rate managed to come back, but the numbers that the monitor showed did not satisfy the doctors.
"Her liver's enlarged. Lift her towards me" said another doctor.
"Is she going to be all right?!" Drake said over the commotion.
Dr. Jamison turned to him. "Would you come with me please?" she said.
"What's going on?" Drake asked.
"We're going to admit your daughter" Dr. Jamison said.
"What's wrong with her?" Drake asked.
"It could be possible that Gosalyn may need a blood tranfusion, so we're going to need to test you for blood type" Dr. Jamison explained, pushing him out of the room.
Drake was at the front desk, giving the receptionist the information she asked for. After all that, he was allowed to go in to see his daughter. She was there, eyes closed and breathing steady. There was a tube going down her throat to help her breathe and she was still connected to a telemetry transmitter. Drake knelt down next to her bedside and kissed her forehead. "Hey sweetie" he whispered.
Gosalyn's eyes fluttered a little and she gave a small smile when she saw her dad. Drake smiled back. "How're you feeling?" he asked softly.
"I can't talk" Gosalyn whispered as her eyes closed again.
"OK, shh. Don't worry about it. We'll be out of here in a while. You just rest here OK?" Drake said softly. He gave his daughter another gentle kiss on the forehead.
Dr. Jamison came back in. She explained Gosalyn's situation to Drake. Launchpad came in just in time. "These numbers show Gosalyn's heart rate" she said, then pointed to two numbers. "We want the top number to stay above 90" she said.
"Wat happens if it's below 90?" Launchpad asked.
"90 and below could mean possible heart failure" Dr. Jamison answered.
"Well that's not going to happen to my daughter. She's too strong for something like this" Drake said.
"Do you think we can control it?" Dr. Jamison asked him.
Drake was quiet.
Two surgeons were waiting in their office talking to one another until they saw Drake come in. They greeted him and got right down to business.
One surgeon, Norman put two x-rays of Gosalyn's heat into a bright light and explained what was going on. Gosalyn's heart in the second x-ray was bigger than her normal heart.
"So we're thinking a heart transplant here, Mr. Mallard. But it might cost you a lot" said Norman.
"How much is 'a lot'?" Drake asked.
"We'll say it'll cost you a good $75,000" said Norman.
That's when Drake got upset. "75,000 bucks?! Just for a surgery that might save my only daughter?!" he said.
"It's either that, or you can take her home and watch her die right in front of you"
"Oh, that's not going to happen. Not to worry, because I'll raise the money. I will not let my daughter die" Drake said then left the room.