Randy's Story [4/27/2011]- please take this with a sense of
humor and recognize God's influenceby Randy
Robbins on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 1:00pm
This is my experience during the tornado that swept through
Alberta and Tuscaloosa in as much detail as I can muster with
the medication I am on. I need to put this down for therapeutic
reasons and for others to read because I can't keep re-telling
this story. If you are to take anything away from this story it
is two things: 1) God saved so many people that day including me
and 2) disasters bring out the absolute best in some
people...and the absolute worst in others. I am going to write
down the events exactly as I remember them while I still can. I
will add details that I have gathered from accounts by my
neighbor and judging from materials stuck inside my body. I
would also like to point out that any person I don't reference
by name (such as neighbor) I had not really met before. Here
goes:
At roughly 4pm on April 27, 2011, I was sitting in FI 414 class
listening to presentation on industries and the severe weather
alarms went off and the University cancelled classes for the
rest of the day. I considered staying on campus, but I saw
everyone else leaving and decided I would be fine going to my
apartment. This is probably my biggest regret of my life purely
for the fact that I let the actions of others sway my opinion
and nearly kill me. I walked to my truck that was parked roughly
a mile away near the Coliseum. I knew we were in for a storm
when the wind knocked my backpack off my shoulder halfway there.
I made it to my truck and drove to my apartment that was located
at the intersection of University Blvd. and 25th Avenue East in
Alberta City, AL. During my drive, I received several texts from
both my older and younger sisters warning me that some severe
storms were heading to my area. Naturally, I discounted them as
hysteria and paranoia and continued on my merry way. I got to my
apartment at roughly 4:30pm and popped a frozen pizza in the
oven for dinner. I turned on my computer and pulled up my
assignments for the night. As I began working through my
homework, I got some more texts from friends warning me of the
weather. I assured them all that I would be perfectly safe in my
sturdy apartment. The timer for the pizza went off so I got it
out of the oven and took two slices to my room. I hadn't eaten
much for lunch so I was ravenous. I ate nearly the entire pizza.
This small detail probably saved my life. More on that later...
The power in my apartment went out at roughly 5pm and so I
opened the shades on my window to read and look outside. I
noticed the trees behind my apartment swaying at a steep angle.
Then I decided I should probably close all windows and doors. I
did so. Just then my buddy, Sean Philips, texted me that I
should find cover. I was coming up with a clever retort about
how paranoid he is being when my ears popped really hard and I
heard what sounded like a train outside my window. I had watched
enough news to know this meant a tornado. I jumped into my
closet and slammed the door shut. I felt the whole building
shaking so I grabbed the door knob and held it shut with all my
strength. Then I heard tearing and ripping noises which had to
be my back wall tearing away. At this point, I want to point out
that if any of these events had occurred slightly differently or
in a different order, I would have been buried. Anyway, the back
wall tore away from the building and the door to my closet began
shaking open and I kept pulling it back closed. After a couple
seconds of this struggle, the door and I were sucked out of the
closet and through the back wall. I never rose more than a
couple feet off the ground but, judging from memories of where
things were, I flew about 40 feet total. The winds flung me from
the back wall into the chain link fence 10-15 feet behind my
apartment with enough force to leave bruises of the chain links
in my side. It then flung me back into some piles of rubble
where I was then rolled around on the ground for about 15
seconds before it subsided slightly. I looked up from my prone
position and I was lying on tile floor and I could see my
neighbor lying on top of her baby trying to shield her. I also
heard myself screaming and realized I had been screaming the
entire time but hadn't noticed.
The winds were beginning to pick up again so I ran over to my
neighbor and threw myself on top of them to try and shield them.
Somewhere along the way I stepped on a piece of wood with enough
force to shove a 3-inch piece through the bottom of my foot.
Please take note, this was not an act of heroism, but
desperation. As far as my concussed mind could think, I truly
believed during that split second that we three were the only
beings left in a world that had dissolved around us. I acted to
try and preserve the only other people left in this Hell so I
wouldn't be alone if I survived. I laid on top of her and
immediately the winds picked up again. I was bombarded with
(judging from wounds and what is still imbedded in my back at
the time of this writing) glass, roofing shingles, pieces of
wood, and a Bic pen. LOL. I know this for sure because I pulled
it out of my side when I stood up. The storm finally dissipated
after roughly 10-20 seconds and slowly stood up. Due to
adrenaline and shock, I did not notice any of the injuries I
suffered. However, I did notice that I could barely hear
anything and my ears were bleeding from the pressure of the
storm (the earlier popping that alerted me of the tornado).
Everyone's ears were. The poor baby's ears were pouring blood.
At this point, I surveyed my body. My jeans, watch, glasses, and
the shirt had been ripped from my body. Somehow, I was still
holding my I-Phone in my right hand. Just then a call came
through. It was my older sister, Christina. I could only stare
at it in disbelief before answering. I don't remember our
conversation, but she later relayed it to me. Here it is as she
remembers it:
Christy:
Randy??? Randy???
Me:
Kiki! My apartment; it's gone. The baby is bleeding. I
lost my glasses. My foot is bleeding badly. There are people
stuck. I have to go.
I then hung up the phone because people were screaming from
within piles of rubble. I limped over to the nearest pile where
one of my neighbor's head was sticking out from beneath a
section of roof. I pulled off a couple small pieces of wood
before collapsing. I think I blacked out for a couple seconds.
Next thing I remember, he is digging himself out. He comes to
check on me and almost slips in the puddle of blood and water at
my feet. He tears off his shirt and ties it around my foot (I
had no shoes or socks on before it hit). He helps me stand and
we look around at the damage. I see my childhood friend Austin
and his girlfriend Mary and their dog that live six doors down
from me. They are standing in their bathroom. I yell to them and
then begin trying to crawl out. At some point I believe a
neighbor (maybe Mary) throws me a woman's loafer which I put on
my left foot to protect it. It was a left shoe that was about 2
sizes too small but I barely noticed. I can't walk because of my
foot so I throw some sections of my couch across the short wall
of sharp debris between me and what's left of the parking lot
and begin crawling on my hands and knees across. Due to the
composition and layout of the debris, I am forced to crawl on my
belly under my truck to get out (it was then parked in my living
room and totaled).
I finally reach the parking lot covered in blood, dirt, oil, and
sheetrock dust. I lend a neighbor my phone and then I spot my
friend and neighbor, Brandon and hobble to him to check him out.
Amazingly, he is unhurt. We both hear someone yelling that
another storm is about to touch down in the area so we
immediately take off to find shelter. I lose track of everyone
else. Austin and Mary help dig out some neighbors. Brandon lends
me his shoulder and we begin walking (me hopping) to the Piggly
Wiggly down the street. We hear that they are not letting people
in so we detour to the local Save-A-Lot and ask the manager if
he is letting people in. He lets us in. I sit on the nearest
checkout station while Brandon runs to find first aid supplies.
He finds peroxide, paper towels, and scotch tape. I use what
little Spanish I know to try to cheer up a small Hispanic child
that was crying near me. I begin to feel very faint from blood
loss so I start chugging as much Gatorade as possible to keep
blood sugar up so I don't pass out. The pizza I ate earlier also
probably kept me awake and alive. Brandon begins cleaning and
wrapping my foot. We then see that there is still wood sticking
out. We wrap paper towels and tape over it to try to stop the
blood loss.
I then begin to feel a slight itchy, burning sensation on my
back so I asked him to take a look. He says that I have a few
cuts on my back. I'm glad he didn't tell me the extent to which
it was messed up. We stay in the store and wait for the next
tornado to touch down. I sit on a rolling cart so that Brandon
could quickly wheel me to the back if it came. We were all
getting ready to run to the back and lock ourselves inside the
freezer. I tell Brandon to gather some food and water in case we
are trapped inside the store. I feel prepared, so I try to slow
breathing and heart rate to slow blood flow. Sometime later (I
began losing track of time and events) we see people run into
the bank to steal money and cops arrest them. This pisses us all
off for obvious reasons. Brandon and I walk (and hop) up to the
Texaco because we hear they have set up a triage center there.
We get there and they turn us away so we go back to the store. I
am exhausted from blood loss and hopping everywhere. I should
point out that I am hopping down the street wearing only my
silver cross necklace and boxers and the homemade bandages on my
foot. It's funny now, not so much then.
We stay in the store for a while. A woman who was in the store
earlier comes running back and leads a cop to where I'm lying. I
owe her and Brandon both my life. I would have bled out within a
couple hours if that cop hadn't found me. He calls in a truck
and I jump in the back and they drive me to the hospital. I ask
for pen in the bed of the truck so I can write my name and
medical info and mom's phone number on my body in case I pass
out again and can't talk to nurses. We get to the hospital and I
am assigned a randomized name for legal reasons (Raja Ed
Downtime). I ask over and over again for them to call my mom to
check on Jessica because she is home alone in Homewood and I
heard a storm passed by there.
I will never forget the nurse who helped me, Nurse Jackie. She
checked up on me throughout my X-Rays and CT scans and stitches
over the next 6-8 hours. I felt like I was her only patient
although she likely had scores of them at this time. I plan on
thanking her personally as soon as I can travel.
This is where the story ends. I am just one person among
hundreds, possibly thousands of people hurt in a city where
neighbors and strangers alike risked their own lives to save
each other. I tried to help who I could any way I could and I
owe my life to many others. Thank you, Nurse Jackie for
consoling me while I was alone for those many hours. Thank you,
Brandon for lending me a friendly shoulder and thinking only of
others. Thank you, Lady from Save-A-Lot for finding me a ride to
the hospital. Thank you, Mom for forcing Delta airlines to let
you off of a plane preparing to take off. Thank you, Jimmy and
Jessica for looking throughout hospital (and morgue) for me for
hours before finding me. Thank you to the men and women of the
National Guard, fire departments, and police departments around
the state. Many of us wouldn't have made it without y’all. And,
of course, thank you, GOD. Even as the clothes and material
possessions were ripped from my body, your symbol stayed firmly
around my neck and in my heart.
It is long, but I can already feel a massive weight lifted from
my chest. This note has done its job. If you are reading this,
you are my friend and share the honor of calling me "pal".
