You realize you are in the middle of nowhere, experiencing what you think is a heart attack and you have no cell service. What would you do?
By LORI SOLA
Bowman County Pioneer
Imagine finding yourself feeling odd, in a fog, panic filled, and emotional. That would be worrisome enough, but add the feeling of knowing you may be experiencing a heart attack. Then realize you are in the middle of nowhere and you have no cell service.
What would you do?
Brian Gary prayed.
On Aug. 7 Brian and his wife, Kyla, were heading home to Colorado after attending a nephew’s wedding in Mandan.
A couple hours into their drive, Brian started to feel “very odd and panic filled.”
“I started to cry uncontrollably and was getting very foggy in the head and was feeling pain in my shoulder all the way down my left arm,” he wrote in his blog Gary Brian’s Blog.
When he realized these were the same feelings he felt in 2007 when he had a heart attack, he went into full panic mode.
“I grabbed my bottle of lavender oil and tried breathing some of that,” he wrote. “I used one of my emergency panic pills and let that melt under my tongue, but it still did not settle me down.”
That’s when he told Kyla he needed to get out of the truck.
Once she pulled over, he stood in the ditch trying to calm down by breathing in the country air, but it wasn’t helping.
“I stood over the back of my truck bed and started to pray,” Brian wrote. He recalled saying, “Please don’t take me now. I have so much more I want to do. I have so much more love and happiness that I want to share. Please don’t let me die in the ditch out in the middle of nowhere. I need help! Please help me.”
Although Kyla was there beside him, holding his hand and trying to calm him down, she had no cell service and realized she needed to get him back in the truck to find help.
Brian, however, said he was so freaked out he could not make himself get back into the truck. He was feeling even worse.
At that moment, his angel appeared.
Slope County Deputy Shawn Brien, formerly with the Bowman Police Department, was heading to Bowman when he saw a vehicle stopped alongside the road and a guy holding his chest area.
“I stopped to see if everything was okay,” Deputy Brien said. “He was crying and was in pain.”
But to Brian, the sudden appearance of the Deputy was God sent. “I never saw (the SUV) approach,” Brian recalled. “It just suddenly was there.”
Deputy Brien stated when a vehicle is pulled over, it doesn’t matter who it is or what they are doing, he’ll stop and see if all is okay. He offered to call an ambulance, which was turned down. After helping Brian back to the truck seat, he escorted him to the Southwest Healthcare Hospital in Bowman.
“He was in a lot of pain and I knew he needed medical help,” Deputy Brien said. “I was just doing my job, but I shouldn’t be the only one credited for it. I called it in and the hospital was ready for his arrival.”
According to Brian, the hospital staff was ready and immediately hooked him up to monitors. His blood pressure was skyrocketing. An IV hookup and a couple of nitro tabs later and things started to slowly come around.
It was not a heart attack. After everything calmed down, Brian opted to get on the road and head home.
Brian calls himself “a messed up creature health-wise.” He has endured a heart attack, experiences panic attacks and lives with diabetes. Through his blog he has opened up and shared these personal journeys which have helped others. In turn his audience has helped him, too.
Panic attacks happen many times a year for Brian. There is no rhyme or reason to it, it just come on.
“This was one of the worst I have had,” he said. “It was like a perfect storm of panic building. I was very exhausted physically and mentally. I hadn’t slept well at all that week and not getting enough sleep is one of the big factors in mental health. Good sleep can cure a lot.
“I am claustrophobic and was packed in a truck with three adults and two kids and had not taken my meds yet. I think it just blew up. It came very suddenly. I was fine and then bam! Tears started and the freak out began.”
Once Brian’s blog was circulating in the Bowman area, Deputy Brien read Brain’s account of the situation and read how Brian referred to him as his angel.
Deputy Brien said, “I took it to heart. It’s the kindest gesture I’ve received from a citizen. When I was reading his blog, it put a tear to my eye.”
Over the years, Brian has gotten through some tough times by the power of prayer.
“I just know when I hit my knees and really ask for help that somehow suddenly my Dad will call from out of nowhere or a friend will show up. I believe we all get called to be angels at times and you never know in what form they will come.”
This time, his earthly angel had a badge.
“It was weird. I normally don’t work morning shifts,” Deputy Brien said. He happened to change his schedule for that day to spend more time with his ‘other half’…coincidence? When asked if he believes in angels, there was no hesitation. “Absolutely,” he said.
Brian describes himself as a big long-haired biker looking dude, but his looks didn’t prevent Deputy Brien from stopping to help.
“I will never forget his kindness and caring,” Brian said. “Law enforcement has taken a lot of flak lately and this is just proof that they are the heroes I always knew they were. I will be forever indebted to him for doing his job above and beyond. He is what a man is supposed to be,” Brian summed up.
Brian is a DJ/music director and blogger on K99 in Windsor, Colo., serving the Ft. Collins, Greeley and Loveland market. He has been part of The Good Morning Guys for the past 28 years. He was born in Minnesota, and grew up in Mandan.
