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Soap Opera Digest presents
The Spirit Guide:

Angel in America

BY PATTY SCHMIDT
As Told To Donna Hoke Kahwaty

In The Wake Of The Worst Natural Disaster In U.S. History, Somebody Was Listening

In our darkest hours, when we need help most desperately, we often seek it from sources we'd never considered before. Here, a woman found that reaching deep within herself brought help in the most unexpected way.

"I was praying to be forgiven for anything bad I'd ever done in my life, pleading that my only child be saved."

"When Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida on August 24, 1992, I was a nursing supervisor and my husband, Greg, was a teacher in Dade County. Our son, Clayton, was 11 months old. We knew the hurricane was coming, and we thought we were prepared, but it was so much more destructive than we ever could have imagined. We weren't prepared at all.

"When we got up the next day, there was no electricity, no phones. One of our cars had a palm tree through it. The entire neighborhood was destroyed; it looked like a bomb hit it. Greg told me he would drive to Fort Lauderdale - normally 45 minutes away - for supplies.

"In the apartment, Clayton had gotten very hot. He was burning up with fever and acting very listless. I gave him the last dose of Tylenol we had, but it didn't seem to help. I'm a nurse, but I didn't know what was wrong with him.

"With Clay only in a diaper, I went out into the street to find help. It was surreal, like living in a Third World country. There were cobra snakes right outside our door. Metrozoo and Monkey Jungle had been hit, and there were animals running through the street. There were also live wires everywhere - and looters.

Today, Clay and his mom,
Patty, are still comforted by
their angelic story.

"I was frantic, literally running around with my son asking everybody if they knew a doctor. I saw one neighbor who said her brother was a doctor and she'd try to locate him. I took Clay back to the apartment and his temperature was over 105. I was on my hands and knees in the middle of the apartment, sweating, sobbing and praying for God to help me. I really was praying for a miracle, praying to be forgiven for anything bad I'd ever done in my life, pleading that my only child be saved.

"I heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, there was a doctor there in green scrubs, wearing a stethoscope and holding a black bag. He told me he'd heard I had a sick baby, and when he examined Clay, he told me that he thought he was probably septic - which is an infection of the blood - from contaminated water. He had an antibiotic IV in this bag, and he showed me what to give him and how to give it. I asked if he was my neighbor's brother and he said, 'No. It doesn't matter who I am; I'm here to help you.'

"He was such a kind, soft-spoken, handsome and gentle man. He gave me enough medicine for about five days and he left.

"While I was waiting for Greg to get back, I went to the Army and National Guard to thank them for sending the doctor, but they said they'd been unable to find one. I went to the fire department and to several neighbors, and they all said the same. They also told me that the roads from downtown - where Miami Children's [Hospital] is - to the suburbs were all but impassable. It didn't make sense: How could a doctor leave his hospital at 1 p.m. on the busiest day of his career and drive through impassable roads to the suburbs to help me? I now believe that the doctor never really existed; he was an angel sent to save Clayton.

"In the past few years, things have started happening where somebody needs help and I am the first on the scene. Two years ago, we were at a red light watching a man on a ladder clear snow from his roof when suddenly he fell, and I could see blood. I told Clay to call 911, ran over and held the bleed on the man's head until the ambulance came. Then, last Christmas, my 2-year-old niece had a seizure and her heart stopped. I did CPR and was able to bring her back. Another time, a man was hit by a car right in front of me, and another man clutched his chest and fell over in front of me on the sidewalk. There have been so many incidents that I carry emergency supplies in my car now. I believe I am there to pay back the help I received.

"Most people I talk to believe that doctor was an angel. Clayton loves to hear the story over and over; he finds it very comforting. And so do I."

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