My regular readers may have noticed that I haven’t been too active this past month. It’s because of a family emergency that ended up being the most horrific day of my life.

Around two weeks ago, I was going to drive my mom to a doctor’s appointment. While getting into my car, she slipped and fell, apparently twisting her leg on the way down. Because of the position of my car door, I didn’t initially see that her leg was broken. Once I did, it felt like I couldn’t respond quickly enough. Her leg wasn’t “just” broken; both bones were protruding from her skin and her foot was almost completely detached from her ankle. Quite a lot of blood was spurting out of the wound, and I was terrified that she was going to bleed to death before the paramedics arrived. To top things off, my repeated calls to 911 kept being disconnected before I could even speak to a dispatcher, making the situation seem even more like a bad dream. Even though I am Red Cross certified in First Aid and CPR, I had no first aid supplies or even a belt to use as a tourniquet, so had to squeeze the wound with one hand and dial 911 with the other. I’m not at all a squeamish person, having worked and interned in funeral homes and coroner’s offices. But it’s an entirely different feeling when someone’s life is in your hands, and that person happens to be a loved one.

I’m extremely grateful to the strangers who stopped to help my mom while the paramedics were en route. One was a first responder who was out for a walk on his day off work. Others were nurses who worked at a rehab center across the street. Their presence truly feels like divine intervention.

My mom has a long road of recovery ahead of her, and some of her immediate needs pulled me out of my daily routine, including writing for My Horrific Life. As things become more stable, I’ll make up for my absence with new interviews, reviews, and exclusive news from some of my favorite personalities in the horror genre.