June 11, 2026
Volume 56 - No. 24
Keep Your Balance
Life-Saving Advice by R.L. Peterson Darren had done it hundreds of times. Most Monday mornings for the five years since his retirement, he’d come in from walking Spike, hang the leash on the back porch, sip a half-cup of coffee, eat a bagel at the kitchen table with Doreen, then lug the full laundry basket down the basement steps to the washer and dryer. Twelve welllighted steps. Yeah, maybe the rise was two or three inches higher than most stairs, but Darren was familiar with the way the steps were
constructed 37 years ago when the house was built, after all, he and Doreen had lived here 27 years, raising two boys, going to PTA meetings, helping the neighbors with their garbage cans. Darren captained one bowling team, rolled a solid 210 on another. Today’s chore was no different than any other Monday. He picked up the basket, opened the door and disappeared down the steps. Doreen didn’t hear anything unusual, had no reason to believe there was a problem but when Darren didn’t come
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up the steps to feed Spike and finish his coffee, she grew concerned. She found him sprawled on his back, one leg on the steps, the other one bent cruelly beneath him, his upper torso covered in dirty laundry, his breath coming in shallow spurts. It took the paramedics six minutes to arrive. Darren never regained consciousness. He died two days later, at sixty seven years and 4 months. The city health inspectors had no real explanation for his death other than he’d lost his balance and fell,
since there was no rug to trip over, no broken or wobbly steps, his path clear, dry and familiar; Darren didn’t take blood pressure medicines or other meds, he never complained of dizziness. He was wearing tennis shoes, the laces tied. His death was listed as an unintentional accident, the third leading cause of death in the U.S; injuries which result in over 26 million emergency room visits annually. Senior Citizens – men and women aged 65 and up – are most adversely affected by these unintentional injuries which often lead to death.
Advice
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