RESPOND
Service
Angels on Earth BY BRIANNA STEPHENS
“
I
really didn’t know if I was going to live or die,” Kimberly Baxter remembered about the November morning when she unexpectedly became ill. She was at home alone at the time when her blood pressure dropped dangerously low and she began going in and out of consciousness. At the same time, her home in Floyd County, Kentucky, was undergoing a list of repairs by Christian Appalachian Project’s (CAP) Housing Program. A work crew of volunteers led by CAP Housing Crew Leader Mike Troutman had been diligently working on Baxter’s home to make it safe, warm, dry, and accessible. When they arrived at her home that morning to continue their work, they found Baxter disoriented and sick. They immediately called 911. On the way to the hospital, the 47-year-old remembers going in and out of consciousness until she blacked out completely. When she woke up, she learned she had been airlifted to another hospital, had spent five days on a ventilator, was in the Intensive Care Unit for a week, and her organs had shut down. “A relative of hers said if we had been an hour later getting to her that morning, she would not have survived,” Troutman said. Baxter stayed in the hospital for a month before she was released to stay
12 The Mountain SPIRIT
with a friend for two weeks during her initial recovery. While Baxter says she was on a waiting list to receive dialysis treatments
before she was sick, she is unsure what ultimately caused her unexpected illness. She now receives dialysis treatments three times a week, but credits CAP with saving
