Jody Noller

Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form. " ~The Rumi

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In late Summer of 2004, I nearly died. It was a cool, rainy morning and I had to climb up on my roof because the gutters were clogged and water was flowing into the soffits of the attic. The rain was torrential- and I should have had enough common sense to wait until it stopped. When I finished clearing the gutters and stepped down onto the aluminum ladder, the bottom slipped out and I fell backwards, with the ladder feet slamming into the rear of the deck. To this day, I do not know how it happened, but my right ankle shot forward and was lodged between the front and rear ladder rungs when I started to fall. Naturally, my ankle being stuck between the rungs stopped me from falling at a height of 12 feet..and I would have landed right onto my neck and spine. But, in the process the ladder "hooks" which join the front and rear sections of the ladder also broke my fall and caused a large gash on my upper left thigh. I was bleeding to death, and was in severe pain due to my right ankle being lodged and basically holding all 165 pounds of me, and I was hanging upside down! I started to feel the icy grip of death all around my body...I was cold, and getting more numb by the minute and started to feel like I was going to lose consciousness. Luckily my daughter was home and immediately called 911. She also climbed up the ladder as best she could and held my back up so I would not pass out, while my blood saturated her clothing. . When the fire department and paramedics lowered the ladder off the roof with me hanging there..they could not belive that my ankle (which is about 3.5" wide- slid between rungs that were 2" wide. A paramedic and fireman looked at me while they were getting me on the ambulance and one said "It's a miracle that your ankle slipped between the rungs and stopped your fall-in fact, it seems impossible that your ankle fit in there in the first place." When the ambulance arrived at the hospital, the doctor gave me lots of stitches and said I was in shock, was hypothermic, and would have been dead within 2 hours had my daughter not been home. The scary part is I had been going on my roof all the time by myself when my daughter was not home The attending doctor in the Er told me that I had a 1 in 5 chance of living. Pretty far odds..but I beat them with my daughter's help. My daughter has been recognized in my town as a Heroine. And she is. She was brave in the worst of times and I am so proud of her. The next day it was very cool and foggy outside. All bandaged up, bruised, and wobbly..I hobbled out to my deck to see the new day- feeling very lucky to be alive. I inhaled a deep breath of the cool air, feeling exhalted and mystified to still be alive. I then looked skyward- to see mist and fog swirling all about. Then the sun started to burn through...and I saw something..and I shot the picture you see below. Any messages from the beyond?? I think I was being sent a message from my dad with this glowing "Heart of Light" -JNoller Summer 2004************ Photograph by Jody Noller

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