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Window Safety
by The Timothy Healey Foundation
Our story begins as many of yours, I'm sure...We got married and before
we knew it we were expecting our first child. Thrilling and scary is
one way to describe your first pregnancy. Our son, Ryan was born in
July of 1988. Like any new parent, I read all the magazines and all the
parenting books, I made sure my home was "child-proofed", I jumped the
minute he cried, and spoiled him rotten. Two years later, our second
son, Timothy was born and two years after that,
our third and final son, Tyler. I began to relax about certain aspects
of parenting. My confidence grew and I even allowed them to cry for a
minute or two before I picked them up. Safety, however continued to be
important to me. I put cabinet locks on the kitchen and bathroom
cabinets, used stairway gates, kept ipecac syrup for emergencies...I
even installed toilet lid locks, to avoid an accident in the bathroom.
As the children grew, I worried less about them falling down the stairs,
and about the kinds of accidents that toddlers have, but safety
continued to be emphasized. Bike helmets were mandatory, knee and elbow
pads were purchased, we began teaching them fire safety and how to cross
the street. Nothing I had read or seen or heard prepared me for the
tragedy that struck our "child safe" home on May 16, 1998.
May 16 in New Jersey can sometimes be cold, and sometimes be warm,
rarely is it hot. On this day however, it was hot. The kids had spent
most of the day on the baseball field, or playing in the sprinkler in
our yard. It was about 4:15, and I took a shower while my husband Steve
and our oldest son, Ryan, went to Ryan's baseball game. I was to meet
them there later with the two younger boys. When I stepped out of the
shower, I heard an unfamiliar cry. I wrapped myself in a towel and ran
towards the cry. I looked out the second story window that's over our
driveway and saw a window screen laying in the driveway. I could hear
that the cry belonged to our middle son, Timothy who was 7 1/2 years
old. My first thought was that the screen fell out of the window on the
first floor and hit him as he played in the driveway. I quickly threw
on some clothes and ran down to the driveway. Timmy was still crying,
as I began to process what I was seeing, I realized that he had fallen
out of the window on the first floor of our home that was above the
driveway (about 11 feet). I immediately carried him upstairs to the
phone, I laid him on the bed and called 911. As I spoke to the
dispatcher, Timmy lost consciousness. A neighbor went and got my
husband from the baseball game and the police arrived. Timmy was rushed
to the hospital. On the way there, I heard one of the EMT's talking to
the hospital; I heard her say, "severe head trauma". I remember feeling
like I would vomit, thinking, "no, they can't be talking about Timmy".
Once we arrived, and the doctors had time to look at Timmy, they told us
that his situation was extremely critical, that he could die at any
moment. My husband and I were in shock, we were devastated, but we had
hope.
We spent the next 7 days on an emotional roller coaster. Timmy remained
in a coma, the doctors never gave us great news, however some days were
much more hopeful than others. We were surrounded by friends and family
members for those long days and nights, we all prayed together, and
talked to Timmy, remembering happy times and looking forward to more
happy times when he recovered. Timmy fought a strong battle for those
seven days, however on May 23, 1998, our 7 1/2 year old left this
world. We truly believe that he is in heaven, in a place without pain,
or hatred, or sadness. We miss him every minute of every day.
No one knows exactly what Timmy was doing, he was alone in the room.
The window wasd and somehow he leaned against the screen and
fell. My husband and I had never thought about children falling out of
windows. We had heard about children in New York City, falling
out of high rise apartment windows, however, we had never considered the
notion that children (not just toddlers) can fall out of single family
home's windows as well. We began to do some research, and found that
many children are injured or die each year as a result of falls from
windows.
On November 20, 1998, just 6 months after Timmy's death, we formed The
Timothy Healey Foundation in memory of our precious boy. The foundation
will spread the word that windows can be dangerous and that all homes
should have child safe windows. Our hope is that someday all new
parents will include safe windows on their checklist of child-proofing
tasks. There is no "right" solution to making your windows child safe.
We're not suggesting that everyone run out and buy window guards, the
main message that we are trying to convey is that parents need to be
aware that unguarded windows can be dangerous, and that window
screens will not protect a child from a fall. We've included some
suggestions on ways to keep your windows child safe. In closing, we
have a suggestion for all parents, go and get your child, take him in
your arms and hug him, drink in that goosebumpy feeling that you get
when you feel his little fingers against your neck, memorize the feeling
of him in your arms, and never, never, take it for granted.
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