The stars were aligned in my favor that night

By Mary Brant, Regional Communications Manager

It was late afternoon June 8, 2020, and Howard Brown was on his way home from work. He was less than two-and-a-half-miles from his home in Waterville, Maine, when his life changed forever.

He was riding his motorcycle approaching a cross street at slow speed, he could see another vehicle approaching but wasn’t worried. Unknown to Howard, the driver of that approaching car was too intoxicated to see him and did not stop. He veered into Howard’s lane, clipping his motorcycle throwing him some 20 feet into a ditch alongside the road. Amazingly, Howard never lost consciousness.

When he came to a stop his first thought was to count his blessings that he had not hit anything hard and then he made his first attempt to stand. He could not get to his feet and realized that something was wrong with his leg, he needed help.

By this time the driver of the other car had stopped and ran over to help. Despite everything he had been through Howard was present enough in the moment to instruct the driver to call 911.

Howard never looked directly at his wound but, being an avid action-movie buff, knew he needed a tourniquet to stop the flow of blood. He instructed the driver of the car to take off his belt and strap it as tightly as possible around Howard’s damaged leg.

As they waited for help Howard realized his situation was serious and called his wife Holly to tell her how much he loved her.

When the first EMTs arrived on the scene they took one look at Howard’s partially severed leg and immediately called LifeFlight of Maine to transport him to the closest medical center for treatment. The LifeFlight helicopter arrived within minutes and, while in transit to Eastern Maine Medical Center, began administering lifesaving blood.

“Howard is one of many patients who has received blood while being transported by LifeFlight of Maine,” said Flight Nurse, Lori Metayer. “He is the best example of how this lifesaving transport service can lead to such great outcomes.  We have carried blood on our transport vehicles from day one.  As an emergency health care provider LifeFlight of Maine is eternally grateful to the donors that allow us to support our patients in such a valuable way.”

Although doctors weren’t able to save Howard’s left leg they saved his life and he is grateful every day for that.

“I believe the stars were aligned in my favor that night. My wife is a teacher and we’ve talked about what I might do to make something good come of that horrible accident,” says Howard. “I plan to share my experience with teenagers at local schools to raise awareness of what can happen if they drink and drive. I also want to call attention to the gift that blood donations can be to someone like me who wasn’t at all sure I was going to make it through that night!”

In addition to the medical attention provided by the LifeFlight Maine crew and the doctors who worked to save him, Howard is grateful to the generous, volunteer donors who gave the eight pints of blood he received.

“As long as I can remember I’ve heard people call blood the gift of life,” Brown says. “I now understand exactly what that means. Every time I look into my wife’s eyes or we visit with my family, I thank each and every one of those individuals whose blood donations helped save me. I wish I could thank all of them personally.”

Whether a crisis is felt by an entire community or a single person, it turns lives upside down — especially for the most vulnerable, who depend on the Red Cross for help and hope. To support our mission visit: www.redcross.org/NNEHoliday.