Everyone with a heart should help

I write these words on the last day of the summer of 2005. It will officially be fall when they find a home on the porches and the newsracks.

But it’s all a matter of perspective.

For a young Spokane County boy summer ended two months ago in a split-second fury of mass and momentum.

His name is Zachary Baldwin – Zak, for short.

Zak was as active as any 7-year-old gets. He played catcher on a baseball team. He wielded a hockey stick for a club called The Devils.

“He played anything and everything,” says the boy’s dad, Brian, a master sergeant with the U. S. Air Force with 19 years of service.

And then came July 23.

Zak drove his motorized dirt bike through an intersection on a country road northeast of Reardan and was immediately struck by a car. The injury to his legs was severe. Far worse was the damage to his neck and spine.

In many ways Zak is the same happy-go-lucky character who once ran and jumped. He is alert and aware.

But the boy’s universe is now far removed from fields of play.

Zak lies in a bed at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center. A metal halo holds his head in place. A ventilator pushes air into his lungs. The surgery count is up to nine.

Each day is a predictable routine of X-rays, therapy, medications and careful monitoring by the best in the broken-boy business.

Mom and Dad have worked out a shift system. A week in Seattle for Brian. A week in Spokane for Liz. … This way one parent can be at Zak’s side while one parent is home with their 12-year-old son, Alex.

“The first couple of days were just hell,” says Brian. “Then we decided we can just sit here and cry every day or get on with it.”

And that’s my point in writing this. I’m asking everyone with a heart to help the Baldwins keep getting on.

A spaghetti benefit dinner and silent auction for Zak will be Sunday, 4 to 8 p.m. at the Northern Quest Casino pavilion. Admittance is $10 for adults and half that for kids under 11. A family of four or more eats for 30 bucks.

If you can’t make the event, a savings account for Zak donations has been set up at Global Credit Union, P.O. Box 3200, Spokane, WA 99220.

The Baldwins have health insurance, which is a blessing. But when it comes to a catastrophic injury so much is left uncovered.

A special wheelchair, for example, will cost upward of $14,000. Insurance covers only 80 percent. The Baldwin home must be significantly altered to accommodate Zak’s special needs. A custom van will be needed …

Doug Kuykendall has replayed that awful moment a thousand times.

“I turned back around and all I see is a ball of dust and Zak’s body flying through the air.”

Doug is the father of one of Zak’s classmates. The boys were riding their dirt bikes that Saturday. Doug was on a four-wheeler, trying to keep an eye on them.

The trio had finished cruising the dirt “summer” farm roads. They were on their way back to the Kuykendall residence.

The Washington State Patrol reports that Zak, who was leading the caravan, rolled through the intersection of Bisson and Tramm without observing the stop sign.

It appears there was little time for driver Michael Andren to avoid the boy. The drama that unfolded afterward, however, is another issue. The Patrol plans to file felony hit-and-run charges against the 33-year-old man, says Detective Sgt. Ken Wade.

Doug says Andren got out of his Ford Taurus to help locate the boy but then got back in his car and drove off. “I don’t see how anybody could leave the scene of an accident, especially when there’s a kid involved,” he says.

Doug is a former volunteer firefighter with CPR training. He kept breathing air into Zak until the seeming eternity it took for paramedics to arrive. The accident aftermath hasn’t been easy. Doug says he’s experienced feelings of guilt. He still has trouble sleeping.

“But Brian and Liz have been great,” he adds. “They never blamed me.”

It’s true.

“You know what,” says Brian, “if Doug wasn’t there I’d be standing in a different place. He was a lifesaver. Every single day I tell Doug that.”

The Baldwins have done their share of playing the “What if” game. How could you not? But as Brian says: “We don’t have time for that. It’s done. It’s over. We need to move on.”