Lee Curtes, Hartford, WI – 54 at time of event (2000)

Lee would find it hard to choose a better place to die. He was 12,000 feet up on top of Belle’s Camp with his skis on, looking at Vail’s Blue Sky Basin. Luckily, Lee gets to repeat the visit every year, and meet with the people who saved his life.

April 16, 2008–WASHINGTON–Emergency legislation requiring the installation of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in dozens of D.C. government buildings was withdrawn at the last minute Tuesday for further study. 

Less than a week after the death of a 10-year-old boy in a D.C. public school gym, the council was set to consider an emergency bill mandating AEDs in 52 District recreation centers and libraries at a cost of roughly $250,000.

But Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas pulled it back for two weeks with the expectation that it will be expanded to all public buildings, including schools.

Thomas said the issue took on an urgent nature after the Thursday incident at LaSalle Elementary School in Northeast.

Our children all died suddenly.
Their hearts just stopped one day.
One minute they were with us—
Then taken swift away.

We pray they are in heaven,
Just waiting for us there.
And though we know this in our souls,
The loss is hard to bear.

We never knew they were at risk—
We never thought to ask.
We trusted all authorities,
Not bringing them to task.

But now we know, and pain is deep—
So deep we can’t convey.
And though we try to move ahead,
We miss them every day.

So we’re harnessing our sorrow,
We’re channeling our pain—
So that their lives—so quickly lost—
Will never be in vain.