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"Help! My Baby's Drowning!"

What brought all these people to the bridge on Highway 60?

by Nancy Huff

The Oklahoma clouds had not dissipated from the previous night's storm, and a bit of a chill lingered in the air on April 10, 2000. The morning started with a discussion about the best way to get Mariah and Micah Wilkie's houseguest, Mike, 20 miles to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to return the U-Haul truck he had rented for his recent move. It was agreed that Mariah would drive the family car to Bartlesville and Mike would follow her in the U-Haul. Mariah fed her children, 17-month-old Shahannah and 3-month-old Lansey, then said good-bye to her husband as he left for his job as music minister at Living Word Family Church in Nowata, Oklahoma.

"Mike, maybe Shahannah should ride with you in the U-Haul," Mariah suggested to her friend as she and Mike walked down the front steps toward the vehicles.

"It's fine with me, but we'll have to move the car seat from your car to the truck," he answered.

"That's a hassle. I already have it set up in the back seat of my car. Just help me put the things in the car, and we'll leave it like it is."

That was a silly idea, Mariah thought. She's perfectly all right with me.

Mike helped Mariah secure Lansey in the infant seat on the passenger side, and Shahannah in the child's seat in the backseat of the car.

Once on Highway 60, Mariah turned on the car heater to keep the girls warm, then lowered the window on her side a few inches so she could enjoy the fresh air. If they didn't have any delays, they would have plenty of time to turn in the U-Haul and get Mike to work.

The drive between Nowata and Bartlesville was always uneventful. Once on the highway Mariah accelerated to the 65 mph speed limit. She glanced at the rearview mirror to make sure Mike was following.

It should be smooth sailing from here on, she thought.

In the second Mariah took to glance at her baby, the car's front wheels hit the shoulder of the road. Panicking, Mariah quickly jerked the steering wheel to the left, then overcorrected to the right. Trying to gain control of the car, Mariah hadn't even noticed the bridge. She had traveled this road hundreds of times and never noticed the narrow winding creek or the bridge that crossed it. Immediately the car hit the guardrail, went airborne, and plummeted into six feet of water below.

Mariah's head hit the steering wheel and for a moment she sat stunned, unable to move. As the car began sinking, she was suspended in mid-air by her seatbelt. The rear seat was submerged in the water. Steam billowed skyward as the engine came in contact with the cold water.

Mariah looked at Lansey who now lay motionless in her infant seat, before checking on Shahannah who was crying in the back seat. As the cold water poured into the car through the window, Shahannah's cries turned to gasps for air. The water was beginning to cover her face.

"Dear God, help me! Save my babies!" she cried out.

Somehow Mariah managed to reach across the front seat, release the latch on Lansey's infant seat and pull the baby toward her. Blood trickled down Lansey's forehead and her eyes were closed as if she were going to sleep. Mariah patted Lansey's cheek. "Stay awake, baby. Stay awake," she repeated.

Again she screamed. "God, help me! Help my babies! My baby is drowning!"

"We'll get you out, lady. We'll get you out!" Ramsey shouted. That morning the boys, students at Tri County Technology Center in Bartlesville, had helped a friend repair his broken-down truck as they were leaving school. That six minute delay put them at the scene of the accident at just the right time.

"My baby's in the back seat drowning! Get my baby out first!" Mariah screamed. By now Shahannah's face was completely under water.

Andy and Casey Krenz, twin brothers, pulled up behind Ramsey and French. The Krenzes also were students at Tri County Technology Center. They had taken Highway 60 instead of their usual route because they had forgotten a textbook at home for an afternoon class.

Andy immediately jumped over the fence and joined the first teenagers at the overturned car. Casey, who had recently injured his leg, stayed at the top of the embankment. He immediately began to pray, "God, help that lady and her babies to be alright. Don't let that car turn over any more than it is and don't let it catch on fire."

Andy talked to Mariah through the partially opened window. "Can you roll the window down so I can unlock the back door?" he yelled.

Justin Ramsey called to Andy, "My mom has the same kind of car. I know exactly where the back door lock is." He reached through Mariah's open window and unlocked the back door.

In a matter of seconds, the three boys pried the severely jammed back door open. Justin French reached into the car, feeling through the muddy water to find Shahannah's infant seat. Grabbing the infant seat, he jerked it toward him so forcefully that the seat belt ripped in half.

Shahannah was finally out of the water. Justin handed the toddler, still strapped in the infant seat to Bonnie Spillman, a nurse, who had hurried down the embankment to offer medical assistance.

Bonnie checked for a pulse—there was none. "God, please don't let this baby die," she prayed.

She started CPR. There was no response. Bonnie began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Almost immediately, Shahannah coughed. She was alive.

Unusual circumstances had brought Bonnie to the scene of the accident that day. She and her eight-year-old daughter, Julie, had left that morning to go shopping. Rather than driving their usual route, Bonnie thought she had heard her daughter ask her to take Highway 60.

"Julie, why do you want me to go on Highway 60?" Bonnie asked.

Julie laughed, accusing her mom of hearing voices. Again, Bonnie felt compelled to take Highway 60. Now holding Shahannah, Bonnie knew why God wanted her to be there.

"Let's go now," Mariah answered without hesitation.

Bonnie helped Mariah and Lansey into the front seat of her car, then laid Shahannah in the back seat with Julie.

Janice Burn stopped when she saw Mariah's car fly into the air. As Bonnie was about to leave for the hospital, she rushed to the car with a warm blanket. Glancing at Shahannah, Janice realized that the baby's lungs were still filled with water. Janice slid in the back seat of Bonnie's car and held Shahannah upright to keep her breathing.

Janice's arrival seemed divinely orchestrated, too, bringing her to the scene of the accident at just the right time. Janice and her husband had the day off and were going out for a leisurely lunch. Except Janice sensed an urgency to get going.

"I couldn't get out of the house fast enough. I kept pacing and telling my husband to hurry."

At the scene of the accident, when Janice volunteered to go with Mariah and her daughters to the hospital, her husband followed in his car. The four teenagers stayed with the submerged car and waited for the police to arrive.

At the hospital, Mariah was diagnosed with a concussion and needed to be admitted for observation. Lansey suffered only minor cuts and abrasions and was released. That night after her husband, Micah, had left with Lansey, Mariah prayed for Shahannah, listening for any sound from the room next door where her daughter rested. Suddenly during the night, she heard her daughter laughing. Mariah cried with joy, thanking God for his protection.

To this day, Mariah marvels at how God re-routed six strangers to Highway 60 just in time to rescue her and her children.

"It was God who pulled all of these people together—four strong teenagers, one nurse, and a loving mother to one place, at one time, for one purpose—to create a miracle."

Mariah always has prayed for the safety of her children, but since the accident, "I spend more time with my children and I tell people I meet that they should never put off the decision to have a relationship with God. After all, we have no guarantee that we will be alive tomorrow. I am very grateful that my children and I have more time together."

A Christian Reader original article.

Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).
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