Some say everyday miracles are predestined—the right
time for the appointed meeting. And it can happen anywhere. In
2001, 11-year-old Kevin Stephan was a bat boy for his younger brother’s Little
League team in Lancaster, New York. It was an early evening in late July. Kevin
was standing on the grass away from the plate, where another youngster was
warming up for the next game. Swinging his bat back and forth, giving it all the
power an elementary school kid could give. The boy brought the bat back hard and
hit Kevin in the chest. His heart stopped. When Kevin fell to
the ground, the mother of one of the players rushed out of the stands to his
aid. Penny Brown hadn’t planned to be there that day, but at the last minute,
she changed her shift at the hospital to see her son’s performance. She was
given the night off. Penny bent over the senseless boy whose face had already
started to turn blue, and gave CPR (心肺复苏术), breathing into his mouth and giving
chest compressions. And he revived in the end. Kevin
wasn’t just a volunteer for his brother’s baseball team—he was a Boy Scout, one
who went on to achieve Scouting’s highest rank, Eagles. After his recovery, he
became a volunteer junior firefighter, learning some of the emergency first-aid
techniques that had saved his life. He studied hard in school and was saving
money for college by working as a dishwasher in a local restaurant in his spare
time. Kevin, now 18, was working in the kitchen when he heard
people screaming, customers in confusion, employees rushing toward a table. He
hurried into the main room and saw a woman there, her face turning blue, her
hands at her throat. She was choking. Quickly Kevin stepped
behind her, wrapped his arms around her and clasped his hands. Then, using
skills he’d first learned in Scouts. The food that was trapped in the woman’s
throat was freed. The color began to return to her face. "The
food was stuck. I couldn’t breathe," she said. She thought she was dying. "I was
very frightened." Who was the woman Penny
Brown. When Kevin knew the woman was Penny Brown, probably he first felt
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