It all started with a couple of six graders having fun on the sledding hill. We were sledding in the snow for a couple of hours and had almost decided to head home. One of my best friends, Kade, really wanted to go down just once more before we left. The hill he decided to go down was the slowest, and everyone had already gone down it before him. Kade began to go down the hill, but before he got to the bottom he began to scream. I began to run down the hill and noticed Kade holding his knee. I didn’t immediately notice anything at first. I thought he just hit it on a rock like a lot of us managed to do earlier that day while sledding down the slightly bumpy hill.

After we finally got him standing up, we had to walk a couple hundred yards, but halfway through Kade kept telling me, “Jake my knee is gushing blood.” I remember feeling it and thinking it was just melted snow running down from his knee. When we finally got home to the garage, Kade gingerly took off his boot and his sock was bright red, stained by the blood flowing down from his knee. When I saw that I started to get nervous, and worried about my friend.

After Kade went inside, I was still getting off my winter clothing, I hear him frantically yelling my name. I run inside as fast as I can, managing to completely nail the full garbage after I reorient myself I finally get to see his knee without all of his winter clothing covering his broken knee. His Knee is split wide open, running with blood, fat oozing out, and bone popping out, shattered. Kade was starting to freak out, and shock had probably already kicked in.

Now low looking back I see why. I am surprised he didn’t pass out. I sprinted to the napkins and chucked them at him to cover his knee up and help stop the bleeding. Bursting into my room I begin to panic, then remembering my friend needs me to find help because he can’t walk to help. I gathered myself and dashed outside in the snow without shoes, desperate to get help for my friend.

I  ran as fast as I could, maybe even the fastest I have ever ran. Filled with adrenaline, I began to look for my neighbor. We got really lucky as she was about to leave to go shopping and had just drove back because she forgot something. She came over thinking I was over exaggerating, but when she lifted the napkins to look at his knee, the blood squirted out like a fountain, red staining her hand. Once she got there I my nerves were calming, but still at record high levels.My friends knee was still wide open. Somehow, my neighbor was very calm and was assuring us Kade would be perfectly ok. She told me to get her husband so that we could bring Kade to the hospital to get stitched up. We went right for the emergency room and once we got there almost all of my nerves went away because I knew that he was in the best place possible and there was nothing else I could do to help him. I had done my best.

If I had kept panicking, I don’t know if Kade could of got the treatment he got in that amount of time. My friend obliterating his knee taught me a valuable lesson in any emergency. Don’t panic when things get tough.