Everson-Nooksack News
Lynden Tribune | Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Routine for race safety well proven by now Ski to Sea racers come speedily through Nooksack, Everson on Sunday By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com
EVERSON — Police Chief Dan MacPhee has been through this a few times before, 17 in fact, so he has a fair idea of what is involved in preparing for the Ski to Sea Race through town. The first racing bicyclist will likely be in the condoned-off bike lane along Main Street around 10 a.m. Sunday, May 27. Then expect up to 400 more in this 46th annual banner event. Screeching to a halt at the entrance of Riverside Park, the biker will transfer a time-chip wristlet to a waiting canoeist, who will run to join his partner to push off their craft into the Nooksack River for the next competitive leg. It’s intensity and excitement to the max, but Everson Police, along with their proven partners, are up to the task each year, MacPhee says. “It’s an all-hands event for us, for sure,” requiring all six regular Everson officers, plus two reserves. See Ski to Sea on C2
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Recovering, rebuilding and reinventing Everson man’s journey from workout junkie to ICU patient to motivated advocate Editor’s Note: This story was provided by the communication department of PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center of Bellingham. It tells of the journey of Everson-area resident Scott Ranahan through acute illness to a new resolve in recovery. WHATCOM — Prior to January 2017, Everson-area resident Scott Ranahan was a healthy and active 51-year-old. He was a fitness fanatic devoted to lifting weights and staying in shape, and he worked a physically demanding job at a Skagit shipyard. When germs spread amongst colleagues, he usually recovered from any sickness more quickly than others. He rarely missed a day of work. He’d
never been seriously ill. He was hale and hearty. That all changed on Christmas Eve 2016, when Scott caught the flu. He was soon coughing and feeling crummy. But it didn’t end there. He developed pneumonia. By New Year’s Day, he was having trouble breathing and he was suffering severe anxiety. His wife, Bobbi, could tell that something was seriously wrong. She insisted on taking him to the PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center Emergency Department. Live-saving care Scott’s condition worsened at the hospital. He became delirious and started foaming at the mouth. He was soon intubated. “He began to walk the thin line between life and death,” Bobbi says. It was terrifying and surreal. In the early morning hours of Jan. 2, 2017, Scott was transferred to the PeaceHealth Intensive Care Unit and placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine. The ECMO device took over for his lungs and heart, keeping him alive. Scott remained on ECMO therapy for 15 days and in a drug-induced coma for three weeks. Bobbi stayed at Scott’s side, in his hospital room night after night, until he finally opened his eyes on Jan. 22. Scott was transferred from ICU to the Acute Inpatient Rehab Therapy Unit on Jan. 24. It was a bittersweet time for Bobbi, as it was difficult to leave her community of ICU caregivers behind. “They had become like family to me,” she says. “They are the most compassionate, caring people I’ve ever met. They treat all patients with dignity, even if they don’t know what’s going on.”
Scott and Bobbi Ranahan have gotten through his medical ordeal together. (Courtesy photos) Scott continued to make improvements in inpatient rehab. He worked with a dedicated team of therapists to help him gain the skills and tools he needed to return to living in the outside community. He was discharged from PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center on Feb. 23. The difficult road to recovery With the skilled medical care he’d received at the hospital and the support of Bobbi, Scott had fought for his life and won. But his fight continued. The effects of his medical ordeal were longstanding and mani-
fested in unforeseen ways. Scott’s recovery was long and slow. He spent a full year of going to 3-4 doctor appointments per week. He developed narcolepsy, nerve damage, short-term memory loss and mood swings. His hearing and eyesight deteriorated, and his physical capabilities were far from what they had been. “People kept telling me that I was lucky to be alive, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” Scott says. He worked hard to regain his abilities and strength, but he ultimately recognized that he wasn’t See Ranahan on C2