Chris Trokey was only 3.2 pounds when he was born in 1986. His Southern California hospital’s medical staff estimated that his chances of long-term life were 50/50. That simply wasn’t adequate for one of those doctors. The pediatrician had no way of knowing that his tireless efforts to rescue Trokey’s life were an investment in his own long-term survival.
Chris Trokey, who later trained as a paramedic, rescued Dr. Michael Shannon from a flaming car after a serious accident almost thirty years ago to the day that Chris Trokey had been saved by Shannon.
Shannon had been a pediatrician for about ten years at the time Trokey was born. He spent a lot of his childhood visiting doctors since he had illnesses like asthma, a hernia, and appendicitis, which led him to become a doctor and start his business in 1973.
“I spent a lot of time in the doctor’s office. I figured that would be a decent thing to do because my parents appeared to enjoy him,” he recounted in a retirement interview with the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. He jokingly said that he went into pediatrics because “kids don’t judge you and their charts were incredibly tiny.”
Shannon was hit head-on by a semitruck on March 29, 2011, when he was traveling down the Pacific Coast Highway close to Dana Point in Southern California. Shannon’s car was stuck below the large truck and rapidly caught fire. Shannon could only make out a flash of white and the sound of breaking glass.
Firefighters and paramedics from Orange County’s Engine 29 arrived on the scene in under two minutes. They came across a flaming, damaged wreck. Although the fire wasn’t out of control, firefighters were aware that the car may explode at any moment.
Shannon was trapped inside the car as the fire started to burn his legs, but he was unable to flee the accident. Shannon was unable to free himself despite being aware of his severe injuries. He maintained his composure as the temperature inside the SUV rose and informed the rescue team of his location.
Chris Trokey, a paramedic with the Orange County Fire Authority, was present that day. Trokey, who had been an EMT for eight years at that point, was nearing the conclusion of his shift. Despite having worked all night, the Engine 29 crew was fortunate to be in the truck and prepared to respond when the call came in.
Shannon saw that the soles of his shoes were fusing with his skin while the fire truck team battled the car fire. He signaled the team that he needed the hose while they used the Jaws of Life to release him. They delivered it to him, and the doctor extinguished the car’s flames after receiving it. They were still putting out the engine fire outside the vehicle. Twenty minutes later, they rescued Shannon and sent him to Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach, which is close by.
Trokey called the hospital in advance to alert the trauma team at the emergency department. He reported the patient’s name, and something in his recollection was triggered. He questioned whether the physician who had stayed up with him throughout his early days on earth to ensure he lived for the next 30 years was the same one in the SUV.
The future paramedic was born 10 weeks early in June 1981. Baby Chris weighed 3.2 pounds and was small enough to fit in Shannon’s palm. He and his mother had to be transported 25 miles away, from Mission Hospital to the medical center at the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of California Irvine.
The Trokeys were eventually allowed to leave the hospital, but their medical issues lingered on for quite some time. Chris the baby developed an unusual fever just a few weeks after birth and was taken back to the hospital. Dr. Shannon remained with the infant until all was well. Trokey’s pediatrician up till the time he was a teenager was Shannon.
Chris Trokey started to remember the man in the back of the ambulance more clearly as he cared for Shannon while the ambulance sped to the hospital.
Shannon suffered a ruptured gut, foot burns of the second and third degree, and glass fragments lodged all over his body. Two of his toes had to be removed, and it took him 45 days to heal from his wounds. The day following the life-saving procedure, the men of Engine 29 went to the doctor.
On the anniversary of the vehicle accident, when a paramedic returned the favor for the doctor who saved his life, Trokey and Shannon now get together once a year. Porter Trokey, Trokey’s son, was born in 2015, and Shannon cared for him for two years before leaving the profession in 2017.
The Crystal Maiden of the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave
Located in Belize, there is a cave where the remnants of ancient Maya human sacrifices can be witnessed. However, reaching the back of the cave system requires swimming, wading through a cave river, and crawling through narrow, uneven rocky passages in darkness. Once there, visitors can walk among the numerous corpses of sacrifice victims, including The Crystal Maiden, an 18-year-old whose skeleton has become calcified to the point of sparkling.
Estonians save a wolf from the ice by mistaking it for a dog
Two young construction workers in Estonia discovered what they thought was a dog caught in a frozen lake. They carried it to their car and brought him to an animal shelter, not realizing it was a wolf.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z's Hospital Security Blocked NICU Access for Father of Premature Twins
A father was denied access to see his premature twins in the NICU when Beyonce and Jay-Z had their daughter at the same time.
stranded hikers rescued by a life-saving iPhone feature
Stranded hikers were rescued by a life-saving iPhone feature that an awful lot of folks don't know a lot about.
The accidentally discovery of Riace bronzes
Stefano Mariottini was snorkeling off the coast of Monasterace near Riace in 1972 when he noticed a human hand sticking out of the sand and called the police, thinking it was a corpse. It was actually two statues of "Warriors from Riace" - 5th century BC Greek bronze statues.
How hero parrot saved little girl who was choking on her breakfast
In 2008 Quaker parrot Willie alerted his owner Megan Howard when the little girl she was babysitting began to choke. Howard was in the bathroom when the parrot repeatedly yelled "Mama! Baby!" flapping his wings. Megan rushed and performed the Heimlich maneuver, saving her life. Willie received the Red Cross Animal Lifesaver Award.
A Pilot Survived 20 Minutes Outside A Flying Jet
In 1990, the captain of flight 5390 Timothy Lancaster got sucked out of his own plane when the window of the plane fell off. The crew held the captain’s leg for 30 minutes while the plane performed emergency landing. Everyone survived.
A U.S. Submarine Collides with a Japanese Fishing Ship in 2001
In 1998, 14-year-old Michael Crowe was charged with the murder of his sister. The police started targeting him after he seemed “distant and preoccupied” when his sister’s body was discovered, and during interrogation, police coercion led him to make a false confession. He was later declared factually innocent and the family won a lawsuit of $7.25 million in 2011.
A man joins a search operation without realizing he is the missing person
Beyhan Mutlu, a Turkish national, was reported missing by local media and unintentionally joined search teams looking for himself in a forest. He was drunk and lost in the woods when he ended up in a group with others looking for himself.
People are freaked out because they keep finding 'help me' messages under the cap of Sobe bottles
With their bottle caps that said, "Help me, I'm trapped in SoBe factory," SoBe Beverage discovered the hard way that forced labor is serious business. This is an example of when humor can be overdone.
A man who has been suffering from headaches for nearly six months discovers chopsticks lodged in his brain
When it was discovered that a Vietnamese man with headaches and vision problems had chopsticks lodged in his brain, the doctors were almost as surprised as the man himself.
The fearless Annie Lee Cooper
Annie Lee Cooper was fired in 1963 after attempting to register to vote. She attempted it once more in 1965, but the sheriff ordered her to leave after prodding her in the neck with a club. She then punched him, causing him to fall to the ground. She was imprisoned before ultimately registering to vote. Following the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the sheriff was ousted and subsequently imprisoned for collaborating to transport drugs, but Annie Lee Cooper lived to reach 100 years old and bears her name to this day.
From Ocean Trash to Trendy Kicks: Adidas Sells 1 Million Eco-Friendly Shoes Made from Plastic Bottles
Adidas has sold over 1 million eco-friendly shoes made from ocean plastic. Each pair reuses the equivalent of 11 plastic bottles
A little girl survived a 1-hour submersion in freezing creek water
On June 10, 1986, two-and-a-half-year-old Michelle Funk fell into an icy creek and was submerged for 66 minutes. When rescuers pulled her out of the water, she was not breathing, had no pulse, and appeared lifeless. The doctors used various techniques to rewarm her blood and bring her back to life. She was successfully resuscitated and went on to lead a healthy life.
Missing Masterpiece Discovered in the Background of ‘Stuart Little’
In 2009, Gergely Barki, an art historian, was watching the film Stuart Little (1999) when he spotted an original long-lost painting used as a prop. Called Sleeping Lady with Black Vase, this painting was the work of Hungarian avant-garde painter Róbert Berény. The painting had been considered lost after World War II.
Whang-od Oggay, The legendary tattoo artist from the Philippines
This is Whang-od Oggay, a 106-year-old tattoo artist from the Philippines. She is often described as the last and oldest Kalinga tattoo artist, and has been performing the traditional art of hand-tapped tattoos since the age of 15
Photos: This man sold everything 45 years ago to buy a bike and travel 6,000 miles from India to Sweden to see his love.
An Indian man traveled from India to Sweden on a bicycle to meet his Swedish wife in 1978. The journey took him 4 months and through eight countries.
Smart guy brings life-sized cutout of his late mother to his graduation
Even though that his mother passed away in 2016, a young man had a clever idea to make a life-size cutout of her and bring it to the event so that she could attend his graduation ceremony.
The Man Who Survived Falling Through a Thunderstorm, William Rankin
William Rankin was a fighter pilot who survived an ejection into a thunderstorm. He suffered frostbite, violent wind and lightning, severe decompression, and nearly drowned from breathing in rain water. He was in the cloud for over 40 minutes in total.
Kipekee, the world's only spotless giraffe, was born at Brights Zoo
The world's only spotless giraffe was born at a zoo in the United States. The giraffe born without spots on July 31 is the only one of her kind on Earth.
Man uses first-class ticket to eat for free at airport's VIP lounge for almost a year
A Chinese man purchased a First Class Ticket, which included admission to a VIP Lounge with free food. Over the course of a year, he rescheduled over 300 times in order to receive over 300 free dinners. When questioned, it was discovered that he is rescheduling his reservation to another date after eating. He eventually cancelled the ticket and got a full refund.
How 'Brad's Drink' Became Pepsi-Cola
Pepsi was first introduced as “Brad’s Drink” in New Bern, North Carolina, United States, in 1893 by Caleb Bradham, who made it at his drugstore where the drink was sold. It was renamed Pepsi Cola in 1898, named after the digestive enzyme pepsin and kola nuts used in the recipe.
Croatian teenager wakes up from coma speaking fluent in German In 2010
In 2010, a Croatian teenager awoke from a coma to discover she could no longer speak Croatian but was fluent in German, a language she had just recently begun studying at school in the United Kingdom. reports in the press
Before "The Rock," There Was "Rocky Maivia"
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first WWF persona was Rocky Maivia, a face (good guy). The audience rejected him due to his cheesy character, with chants of “Die, Rocky, die!”. After this, he became a heel (villain), referring to himself in the third person as “The Rock” and insulting the audience.
World's largest iceberg breaks off Antarctica
In 1986, the iceberg known as A23a broke away from the Antarctic coast. However, it quickly grounded in the Weddell Sea, effectively turning into an ice island.
