05.05.2003 8:48 a.m.
Interesting weekend

This entry is IN MEMORY OF JOHN RUBOM.

This weekend was interesting... Friday night we went to see the new X-Men movie. It was just as awesome as I had hoped it would be. Everyone should go see it!!!!

Saturday morning we got up, went for breakfast, and went out to Great Lakes Skydiving so my husband could make a jump or two. We hung out for a few hours, and he finally got to go up on a load. He jumped, and I could tell he was having a good time flying his canopy.

Then he landed, and came up towards the building where I was waiting. I made fun of him for not landing in the peas (a circular area of pea gravel that acts as a target/good landing area for experienced jumpers), as a good wife should.

As we were walking back towards the hangar, I looked out in the sky at the jumpers that were on the load after Shawn. I thought 'Holy shit!' as I watched someone falling like a stone, and his canopy not opening until about 750 feet up. I thought, 'What the hell are they doing?' and my thoughts were echoed by the other people around me watching the same thing. Two white canopies = two reserves parachutes = not good.

We watched as the wind carried one of them near us, over the hangar, saw his arms down at his sides and his head lolling backwards...I heard my husband yell, "He's OUT! He's OUT!" and everyone started to run towards the front of the building. I heard numerous voices saying, "Oh my god," "Oh shit," "Oh fuck" and variations thereof. I took off toward the front of the building, running around the side... I heard "He's in the tree!", took a few more steps and heard "He's out of the tree!" He had fallen out of the tree, bounced off two cars that were parked under the tree, and landed on the ground. I got to the parking lot and saw broken tree branches everywhere, a man lying on his side, arms down by his sides, his face covered with blood, and a puddle of blood next to his face on the ground.

He was instantly surrounded by 5 or so people, barking orders. "Someone call 911!" "Get some towels!" They put some towels under his head, tried to wipe off some of the blood, and someone got a tube to help him breathe if he stopped. Someone else wanted a wrench, to get his rig off of him before the paramedics arrived and started cutting everything in sight. People kept telling him that help was on the way, that he should just keep breathing slow and deep, that he was doing great. He kept moving like he was trying to get up, and they kept telling him to lie still, not to get up, that they were going to take care of him. (I thought, "Shit. Brain damage. Involuntary muscle movement.")

Two guys jumped into a car and took off down the runway to find the other jumper, who someone said had landed in some trees. FINALLY, a truck arrived with two volunteer paramedics. They started doing what they could with the equipment that they had, put an oxygen mask on his face, asked how old he was and if he had any allergies to medication. Another volunteer team arrived, and then finally an actual medical SUV arrived. Then an ambulance. Then two police cars. Then a firetruck. I stood by and watched as they worked on him, started suctioning what seemed like gallons of blood out of his nose and mouth. A man cut off his jumpsuit and pants, and said that both his ankles were broken.

My husband was still helping at that point, so I just stood by and watched, and waited. It was like time had stopped and I didn't know what I could do to help, so I just stayed out of the way. I wanted a hug, but knew he would come over when he could, so I waited.

Finally Matt, the other man involved in the accident, arrived to the parking lot, having walked back from where he landed. He said it was like a dream, he was totally out, then he heard voices calling his name, and woke up to see branches surrounding him. He had dried blood all over the side of his face, and a few serious scalp lacerations. He saw the paramedics working on John, and immediately broke down. He said, "Oh my god..." and his face just crumpled up in a way that made me want to start crying. He was so upset about his friend...

Then my husband came over and hugged me, and I just broke down. I thought "It could have been him" and that did it. I started crying, and asked my husband "Can I have a cigarette now?" I had wanted one earlier, but hadn't smoked, because I know he doesn't like it. I think after the adreneline rush of witnessing what I did, I deserved a cigarette to calm me down, though. I told him "No more jumping today. Can we go work on the garden? Gardening is much safer than skydiving." He told me we'd wait for all the rescue people to leave, then we'd get packed up and go.

After what seemed like forever, Life Flight arrived and they tried to get him stabilized enough to get him on it. At one point, the paramedics needed to have the car that John was lying in back of moved, and no one could find the keys, so 8 men just picked it up and moved it up on the curb. It was quite impressive. Matt was put into a C collar, and on a backboard to make sure the neck pain he was reporting wasn't anything serious.

Both men were taken to Bronson Hospital...Matt in the ambulance and John in the helicopter. Matt was released with head injuries, and John ended up passing away at 5 am on Sunday morning. I hope his mom or someone was with him. I hope he didn't die alone...

According to one of the policemen investigating the accident (yes, I was eavesdropping), who watched the video from Matt's camera helmet, it showed the two men doing a 2-way freefly jump. Matt shows John doing a flip away from him, and then he scans the sky for a minute. Then the camera shakes in a way that you could tell he'd been hit. Then you see more sky, and eventually, the reserve opening. From what we've heard, we think they were doing a 2-way freefly, whether head down or sit flying, I'm not sure... Somehow they collided, most likely in a head-to-head collision, and were both knocked unconscious. Both had their reserves opened by their Cypres (an AAD, or Automatic Activation Device that opens the reserve parachute if the main isn't deployed above a certain altitude). The skydiver he was talking to asked him, "Are you going to preserve the tape? I know he'll want it when he gets back..." I had to laugh to myself. "Typical skydiver." (A friend of ours is still mad at his friend who, instead of taping the landing in which he shattered his wrist, put down the video camera to see if he was okay. This was two years ago.)

Matt landed in the trees, and John was carried by the wind over the hangar and into the tree. Most of his injuries were most likely sustained by crashing into the tree and then falling onto the cars. (There was no blood on his jumpsuit when we saw him fly over the hangar.)

I just keep thinking that people who don't jump wouldn't understand...that they probably only think of how dangerous skydiving is when they hear of an incident like this. What they don't realize is that skydivers would rather die while skydiving than anywhere else. At least they're doing something they love. (And I want to die of a heart attack while I'm having sex when I get old...)

The rest of Saturday was filled with watching t.v., and working a little bit on the garden. We went to Lowe's and bought 35 retaining wall bricks to put into the front garden. My husband and I were both just drained after that experience, and didn't really have the energy to do a whole lot the rest of the day.

Sunday we got a TON of work done on the garden. We went and bought 35 more retaining wall bricks, and put in 70 of them. My arms are very angry with me today, from all the carrying. I also mowed the lawn, so it looks less like a forest, and more like a lawn. It's going to look awesome, I think!

Well, I hope everyone had a good weekend. I also hope it wasn't as eventful as mine was... Have a great week, everyone!

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