CHAPTER 2- Midnight Emergency

Thankfully Seth was a lite sleeper- or maybe it was more that his phone had an annoyingly loud ring tone. He knew right away it was Ryan after all Seth was the one who programmed it to play "Bad Boys" when his brother called. The ringtone was something Ryan rolled his eyes at though secretly Seth thought the song actually amused the too often solemn boy. Fumbling for a minute Seth finally found the phone and clicked on it to receive the message. When he read it he shot up out of bed immediately running to his parent's room. All the text said was Need Help Can't Breath.

"Mom, Dad something's wrong with Ryan get up." Seth shouted urgently upon bursting into his parent's room.

The two adults were immediately awake at their sons' urging.

"What's wrong Seth?" Sandy questioned calmly ever the voice of reason even as he was pulling on his shoes and heading towards his son.

"I don't know he texted me saying he needed help and couldn't breathe."

"Kristen call 911 and ask for an ambulance tell them it's a possible asthma attack." That was all the urging Kristen needed and soon she had the phone in hand.

Seth and Sandy were moving hastily towards the Pool House.

"Asthma? Since when does Ryan have asthma?" Seth asked in confusion.

"Not since he was little but sometimes it can come back." Sandy replied.

Upon reaching the pool house Sandy immediately flicked on the lights his eyes quickly landing on Ryan's distraught form. The boy was pale and wheezing audibly and more frightening still was the faint blue tinge on his lips.

"My God…" Seth said seeing his brother and freezing.

Sandy didn't hesitate and quickly went to Ryan he pulled the kid up and sat behind him leaning the boy back against his chest so he could feel his own breath.

"Put your hands up above your head kid and try and breath with me slow deep breaths help is on the way."

Ryan struggled to comply and it was obvious he heard Sandy and wanted to do as he was told though his body seemed to be fighting him all the way.

"Seth stand outside and watch for the ambulance." Sandy said turning his attention to his other son in hopes of giving him something to do to ease his fear. Seth nodded glad to have something to do that took his eyes off the frightening scene inside.

It seemed like ages but was probably no more than 10 minutes when the sirens of an ambulance could be heard pulling up to the Cohen residence.

"Over here." Seth yelled seeing the EMT's. "Hurry he can't breathe and he's turning blue."

Those words seemed to kick the paramedics into high gear and soon they were setting their equipment beside Sandy and Ryan.

"Tell us what's going on."

"Well Ryan had soccer practice today he came home looking a little pale and coughing a bit but seemed to settle down fine after dinner. He was asleep when I checked on him at 11:30 and looked to be breathing normally. He apparently woke up a few minutes ago like this though. He has a history of asthma but hasn't had an attack since he was around 8. He doesn't take any medication."

"Alright well it definitely looks like you're having an attack now. My partner here has a nebulizer treatment let's try this. Can you hold it or do I need the mask?" The paramedic asked Ryan.

Ryan shakily held out his hand and soon had the mouthpiece in his mouth struggling to breathe.

"Good you keep trying to breathe that in while we get some vitals. I'm going to put this on your finger to get a pulse ox reading okay?"

Another nod from Ryan had the medic doing just what he said. A few beeps later and a frown on his face told Ryan and Sandy the numbers weren't good.

"Alright let's get your BP then we are going to place some monitors on your chest to watch your heart."

All of this was done quickly. Ryan was happy help had arrived and the nebulizer was helping some but he still felt frantic.

"Alright Ryan we are going to call your vitals in and hopefully get you some more medications and get you to the hospital for some relief. You are doing great just hang in there."

At that one of the medics stepped back out of the room his radio in hand presumably to radio into the hospital.

"Where will you take him?" Sandy questioned.

"Children's Memorial is closest."

"Alright I'll have my wife call our pediatrician, Dr. Peters, to meet us there."

The medic nodded his understanding and then suddenly the other medic was back. They want us to start and IV and go ahead and push an amp of epi."

Soon the meds were on board and the medics had switched the nebulizer out for an oxygen mask.

Next thing he knew Ryan was being loaded into an ambulance and Sandy was heading towards the front seat of the ambulance with Kristen and Seth saying they would follow in the car. Soon in a rush of lights and sirens they were off to Children's Memorial.