Rowan Allen (RA) & Bryan Lindsay (BL)

Rowan Allen (RA): I remember your mother asking me, ‘Is he going to be alright?’ But I didn’t know what was wrong or how bad you were. 

My partners and I would come to the hospital every chance we got and check in on you. To this day, when I start thinking about the details, I get choked up.

Bryan Lindsay (BL): You know, my mom always would say, ‘You’re a strong person. God brought you back for a reason.’ I have to give it to you, ‘cause my life wouldn’t be anything without you guys.

RA: But no matter when we went there, your mother was always there. You can’t define a mother any better than that. 

Yeah, after you started to get better, we got really close ‘cause every December, she would drop something off for Christmas and that went on for quite a few years. Then we kind of lost touch.

But one day I brought a patient into the hospital, and I heard this nurse’s voice. She completely caught me off-guard.

HOST: That nurse who stopped Rowan in his tracks turned out to be Bryan’s mom, Dorothy. Rowan and Dorothy met again for StoryCorps. 

Rowan Allen (RA) & Dorothy Salmon-Lindsay (DSL)

RA: Just your voice after all those years, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. 

Dorothy Salmon-Lindsay (DSL): And you said, ‘Oh, you’re a nurse now.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I forgot to tell you that.’ [Laughs]

It’s interesting because when I was a little girl, my dad used to tell me, ‘You’re gonna be a nurse.’ But when this accident happened, I said maybe this is God’s way of saying, ‘You know, your father was right.’ [Laughs] So, I enrolled in nursing school. 

And I have to say, you were part of that inspiration. You know, you were phenomenal in taking care of us. I remember when Bryan was in the ICU, all the alarms were very intimidating and frightening. And you would explain what they meant.That experience totally solidified that that was my calling. 

RA: For me, I kept one mantra that I said to myself as a paramedic: it could be me or one of mine. 

DSL: It takes good people to do good work, and it shows in what you do. And I will continue to give my 100 percent to every family I interact with. 

RA: And knowing where Bryan came from, the road he had to go through, and where he is today, that’s one of the crowning achievements of my career.