Joe’s Story Video Transcript

Joe’s dad:  I’ve seen the first ambulance go by and then the assistant for the ambulance raced by a cruiser right behind it and with the speed that they were going, I knew something was wrong and something was bad.  And I just like, I hope they don’t go down my route.

I just had a bad feeling and I thought what has happened and as I crested over this one hill, my worst fears came as I seen they were turning into our lane.

And so I drive down the driveway and we’re just putting up the police tape and an officer come out and Paul, the boy who had shot Joe come out and says, “I accidentally shot Joe,” and they were like, “Everything is going to be okay.  He’s doing fine.  He’s sitting and talking to the officers and ambulance workers and about that time the helicopter landed.

Physician:  The first time I heard about Joe, I obviously didn’t know his name but we had a trauma page and it said that there was a gun – 16-year-old gunshot wound to the abdomen that was going to be coming as a direct-scene flight from Warren County.

Joe’s dad:  And so I got here and I was waiting for the surgeon to come out and Dr. Mini came out with his team and he says, “Well, he’s lived.”  And he – he told me everything that was happening and what we were facing and looking at.

Physician:  With the location of the wound and only having one wound on the body, it appeared that he did have a wound in his abdomen or that was injuring some intra abdominal organs.  I was concerned with the liver initially from a bleeding standpoint with where the wound was located.

Physician:  I was thinking that Joe possibly might be crippled for life at that time because the bullet was close to his spine.  And by Sunday night we had x-rays showing that the spine was fine.  And so, it was just a big relief.

Physician:  He eventually stabilized and we were able to take him back to the operating room, I believe, post-injury day two and wash him out.  And we were able to reconnect his small intestine.

Nurse: So we went down the sedation and tried to explain to him we did what we were going to do to take that breathing [indiscernible] [03:22] so he was ready to breathe on his own.

Joe’s dad:  Linda took really good care of him.  She really showed him, you know, that – I don’t know.  It was just cute.  She was just flat out cute the way she took care of him.

Nurse:  Usually, in the trauma ICU, it’s very stressful for the families and for the nurses and for the patients.  So, as ICU nurses, you would take care not just the patient.  You take care of the family members.  It’s part of their – they’re like part of the care team.

Joe’s dad:  One night in particular when they brought him out of that induced comma more or less, me and some ladies prayed in the ICU waiting room and I went in to his room for – because nobody had been in there as he was coming back through.  And I describe it as he went from a zombie to being hungry.  It was more or less you watched him come back that night.

Nurse:  We just connect right from the get-go, you know, and so we would talk about all the stuff about the hunting and the fishing.  Not once did I ever hear the kid complain, never.  I mean, it was amazing.

Joe Pinell:  And Lonnie [Phonetic 0:04:46], he – I had him a lot, as a nurse come in he was my nurse for several days in the trauma clinic.  And he was just real nice and he did everything really good, I think.

Joe’s dad: You don’t know where it’s going to go, you know.  Is this kid going to be able to eat again and all of this stuff?  So it’s like – it’s scary for him.  So then you just act like they’re your kid.

Joe’s dad: We’re so lucky to be in such good hands is all I can say.

Joe Pinell:  I’d like to thank all the first responders who’d came out and I believe his name was Sean, I can’t remember it, but he was the helicopter driver and he was really nice to me while I was first – and he helped and Lonnie and Linda and the IC unit.

Physician:  I think the reason that Joe is alive today and other victims of trauma whether it be penetrating trauma or a blunt trauma are alive is because we have a team here at Miami Valley.

Joe’s dad:  You know, from the ambulance driver to the police, to the helicopter pilot to the surgeon, to the nurse, if we did not have everybody playing their part, he wouldn’t be here.

Joe Pinell:  It’s kind of scary.  Kind of got like a second chance and stuff.

Joe’s dad:  They came by land with roaring engines, bright lights and loud sirens.  They came by air and landed in our field.  And they took him back with them to their safe haven where they administered to him day and night.  And they all had different badges and different uniforms but they all had the same angel wings on their backs.