Andrew’s Easy Button

CBS’s Mika Stambaugh got it right! Great reporting!  Read this amazing update!

Last night I shared a late dinner with Nohemi Pitts, Andrew’s wife.  When I arrived at the hospital at 8:30 p.m. with her dinner, Nohemi asked if I wanted her to wake Andrew so I could visit with him.  “Good God, no!” I said.  “Andrew will be sad that he missed an opportunity to see you,” Nohemi responded.  I reminded her that he’d have plenty of opportunities in the future to see ALL OF US!  And her.  And their children.

Instead of waking the patient, we went to the family waiting area and shared a few hours of quiet time, relaxing and talking about everything that has transpired in the last five days.  I was able to show her the blogs and your donations and warm wishes and hand over cards and checks.  Nohemi’s big, brown eyes revealed her complete shock at the magnitude of the impact their story has had on the reporting community, the legal community and that, with the help of abovethelaw.com, the story went viral and national!  She giggled at what she presumed Andrew’s reaction to all this hoopla will be when he is able to fully digest how his story touched so many people.

With Nohemi’s permission, I wanted to share some of her experiences from the past five days.

You never expect this sort of thing to happen to you or your family.  You’re going along in life with your routines with your kids and your job and everything’s fine.  And then the unexpected occurs.

Nohemi felt concern Wednesday afternoon after she had not heard from Andrew.  By 6:00 p.m. panic set in because it was not like her husband to go off the grid for so long.  She began to feel that something had happened to Andrew.

Finally, by early evening the Chicago Police contacted me.  They just told me Andrew had accidentally fallen into the Chicago River.  They said he would be okay, and to go to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.  When I got there, he definitely wasn’t okay.  I’m sure they told me that so I wouldn’t get in an accident on my way there!

Not wanting to dwell on the traumatic events of last Wednesday, I asked Nohemi what the most [good] memorable parts of these last days have been. . .

The outpouring of support from our reporting community, from the legal community; the fact that this thing has gotten so big and so many people know.  Andrew will be shocked when he learns the extent of the impact his accident has had on others and just how many people care about him. 

I’ve been really touched by the people involved in the rescue as well.   17-year-old Emmanuel Gonzalez, the kayaker who was able to reach him so quickly and hold him above the water until the rescuers arrived, is my sister’s boyfriend’s sister’s friend’s friend, and they graduated together last Wednesday.  He returned to the hospital the next night with his girlfriend to see how Andrew was doing and was relieved to learn that his condition had stabilized.  It totally makes you think about six degrees of separation thing.   “Emmanuel, God was in  your strong arm on the 13th and I have a new friend now.”  – Andrew Pitts

The CPD rescuers came back to find out how he was and they cheered and high-fived when they learned the Andrew would live.  You can’t imagine the surreal feeling of having complete strangers cheering for your husband’s recovery.  It’s very touching.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  ―Margaret Mead

(In the coming weeks, Andrew’s own words on what happened.)