Well...now the that everything is cooling down, I would like to share this with all of you.
While Ryan and I were in Houghton Lake, we got a message from two different people letting us know that our good friend, Brad, (who we stayed with when we went to Hawaii) was in a terrible accident and had no chance of survival. We went on with the rest of the week, but when we returned home, found out that his family flew to Hawaii to say good bye and take him off life support. Ryan and I spent this entire past weekend with Brad's family, his wife from Hawaii, plus many friends who flew in from other states. On Sunday, we went to his memorial service.
The story his mother and step father told us was that they were in a lava tube (which is completely pitch black) and he was free diving in a pool of water (about 12 ft) with nothing but a flashlight. Although he was with his wife, Kara, and four other friends, he was the only one who went into the water. Somewhere under the water, there is another tube that many divers go into to explore. After a few minutes, Kara realized that Brad had been under the water for quite a while, so she shined her flashlight down and watched him push out of the tube and sit on the bottom of the water. At that point, she thought he was just trying to be silly or scare her, until she watched him fall over. She jumped in and pulled him to the surface. Both her and two other friends did CPR then call 911. It took the ambulance only twelve minutes to get there, but an hour to get him out of the tube. When they finally got him to the hospital, they put him on life support and a respirator, but he had no brain activity.
When we first got the call (from his sister and his wife) they told us he was brain dead and had no chance, but I was still praying for a miracle...however it is assumed that he was already gone before he was pulled out of the water.
This has been the strangest and worst thing I've ever had to deal with--Ryan lost a close (he stood up in Brad's wedding last year) and valuable friend. I saw the pictures of him on life support, and they absolutely broke my heart. I'm sure I have told some of you what a wonderful person he was when I was talking about our Hawaii trip. From the beginning, I have always felt like I bonded with him very quickly--in fact our whole video from Hawaii is Brad and I either sitting in the front seat together, being silly, etc. Ryan even joked that it looked like he was taping mine and Brad's trip. There are some people that I have know for years, and I still didn't feel as close and comfortable as I did with Brad after only a few days.
I know I've gone through the loss of people like my mom's Uncle Albert, however, he was an older man who was in the hospital for months suffering. Although I was sad to see him go, I know he is so much better off now. In a situation like this, it was so unexpected, so unnecessary, and he was so young with tons of life ahead of him.
I know it's a sad story but I thought it would feel good to share it. I also would like all my friends to know that I love them and I truly value their friendship.
Bradford Cameron Ordell
March 26th 1976-August 4, 2004
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