John's Hand - As told to me by Cindy, Elise, Rachel, and Grace

On the fourth of July 2001 the missionaries at PuraQueQuara missionary kid school outside of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil were celebrating the holiday. It was nighttime, after the generator had shut off for the night, and the firework celebration was over. Some of the older kids were still lighting of some firecrackers on the soccer field. Among them were, John, 16, Adam, 13, and Brandt, 17. John had “made” a new firework in a plastic guaraná bottle. He was going to set off and show the others what it would do.

John lit the explosive, swung it back behind his head to get up the force to chuck it, and it blew up. Adam and Brandt immediately knew something was wrong. There were several other smaller kids outside who heard the explosion, and Adam’s dad, Jim, and Brandt’s dad (John’s brother), Dan, were near the soccer field. They all heard John yelling, “AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! My hand!!! My hand!!!!” Jim and Dan came running to see what had happened. John’s hand had been totally blown off by the firecracker.

Immediately, Jim ran to haul a speed boat down to the Amazon. Adam and John’s sister, Kim, went to go tell everyone what was going on. Dan grabbed a hold of John’s arm to try to cut off the blood flow to his hand. John was loaded onto the boat with Dan, and Mark (a man who takes care of most of the medical stuff at PuraQue) and rushed Manaus.

Now, it takes ten minutes, at the very least, by speedboat to get to the nearest road leading into Manaus. Once there, it is about another half hour or longer van ride to where the hospital is.

Back at PuraQue, everyone was very worried about John. Would he bleed to death before he made it to the hospital?

Now, this story was told to me by Jim and Adam’s family, so I only heard what went on in their house after the incident. The family stayed up late talking about and praying for John. They were so traumatized about what happened to John, and were worried that they might lose part of the PuraQue family. Jim and Adam weren’t able to sleep at all that night, the images of John’s hand left terrible memories in their minds.

After a while, it was found out that John would live, but he would not longer have a right hand. But God had protected him. If the firecracker would have exploded while it was directly next to John’s head, he may have died. Once the speedboat got him to the roads, there was a taxi waiting there for him, and took him to a brand new hospital that was much closer than the regular hospital. If the people wouldn’t have thought and acted as fast as they did, John may have died. Dan thought quick to cut off the blood flow to the hand. When they got to the hospital, Dan’s hand was stuck on John’s arm from holding it so tight for such a long time.

When I met John, he was a senior in high school at PuraQue. He doesn’t have a right hand, but he can do just about everything he could do before the accident. He goes hunting, plays salão (futbolito), volleyball, and Frisbee golf, goes swimming, and participates in many other activities that high school boys do. Absolutely amazing that things turned out as they did!!

Originally told to Jessica August 2002. Written by Jessica September 2002.