Learning you child is hurt in a car crash is a call no parent wants to receive. It’s even worse when you’re an emergency responder.
That’s exactly what happened to Tim Johnson after he was called out to rescue his daughter, Emma, ABC 10 reported.
Emma was on her way to school earlier this month in Yuba County, California, when she was in a crash involving another car that slammed into a deer. The force of the crash caused the deer to slam through the 16-year-old’s windshield and into the car, causing Emma to break her neck and back.
“I heard my pager go off for a call for the volunteer fire department in our town and I got up and was getting dressed and my wife called… my wife had pulled up on the accident because she had left a few minutes after Emma and she called me and told me that it was Emma, it was her truck,” said Tim Johnson.
Tim is a firefighter and paramedic with the Peninsula Fire District. He’s also a volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Dobbins, which is what he was doing when he received the call about his daughter.
Emma was already pulled from the wreck by the time her dad pulled up to the scene. Tim said he made sure to tell his daughter he was there for her and what to expect next.
She was airlifted from the scene to Enloe Medical Center, and then again to U.C. Davis Hospital where she underwent 12 hours of surgery of facial surgery. Doctors say the neck fracture may heal by itself, but Emma may still have one more surgery ahead of her.
