BROCKTON, MASS. (WHDH) - “I just remember going to work and next thing I know – just flashes,” said Jonathan Lenehan.
Flashes of his car slamming head-on into a truck last March.
“I don’t even remember, heck I don’t remember the last two weeks before that accident,” said Lenehan.
Jonathan Lenehan was pinned in his crushed car, clinging to life as first responders raced to reach him in Brockton.
“He was internally bleeding from his intestines,” said Nick Lenehan, Jonathan’s father.
“His heart stopped and he needed blood,” said Jwala Lenehan, Jonathan’s mother.
The blood he needed was located almost an hour away at hospitals in Boston.
Without a transfusion, he wouldn’t survive.
“You’re thinking the worst,” said Nick.
But on that day, a life line was on the way.
An off duty Canton firefighter knew how to save Jonathan’s life with one phone call.
He called emergency rescue crews to get a one-of-a-kind field truck to the scene. It carries blood for emergency transfusions and serves several communities around Canton.
“It was one in 1 million scenario that he got this service,” said Nick. “He got a lot of blood, and if he had not gotten that blood, it was game over.”
The EMTs meet ambulances on the move to deliver blood and buy time.
The transfusions are designed to do one thing: keep patients alive until they make it to the emergency room (ER).
“We are resuscitating them in the field so when they hit the door of the emergency room, the ER can do what they need to do,” said Dr. Mike Valkanas, Canton EMS Medical Doctor.
Dr. Crisanto Torres treated Jonathan at Boston Medical Center. When a patient arrives already receiving blood, he knows they stand a fighting chance.
“I kid you not, we’re high-fiving in the trauma bay, saying ‘yes, they’re getting blood, that gives us a sense of belief,” said Dr. Torres. “These patients are walking out of the hospital alive.”
Not everyone gets that chance. Dr. Torres tells 7 Investigates that 80% of trauma victims rushed to the hospitals die before reaching their destination. He says many of them could have been saved if they’d received blood sooner.
“We’re basically creating a bridge of survival,” said Dr. Valkanas.
That bridge has been built through a collaboration between the Canton fire department and doctors at Boston Medical Center.
The program has saved 22 lives since launching last year.
“You’re always asking yourself ‘did I do enough? Could I have done more,'” said Dan Harris, EMT. “This provides me the opportunity, provides us the opportunity, to do that little bit more to know that I did everything I could do to make this patients outcome the best it could be.”
But if blood isn’t available in time, even the best care won’t be enough.
“It’s really a resource that needs to be there, ready to go,” said Dr. Valkanas.
The team behind the program wants to provide that resource by building a network of blood trucks along the north and south shore.
“I think people need to know I think there’s a lot of people that could use this to save their kids their family,” said Jwala.
Jonathan’s parents say this program saved their son.
Now, he’s back home and walking again after spending over a month in the hospital.
He’s focused on healing and taking one step at a time.
“Just keep going. Just gotta get up and move,” said Jonathan.
“He’s got one heck of a long road, but at least he has a road right?” Nick said.
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