Most recently a family in my area experienced a horrible fatal event that might have been 
preventable. As is the case when tragedy strikes and as the year end is often a time of reflection for many, I'm looking back at 2011 and the things that have happened in my life. Many of my friends - maybe even you - have gone completely to wireless cell phones. My testimony, one that I confirmed with a techno-mobile friend, is one I believe is very important to share with you. Please take a moment to read this as the simplest, but sometimes overlooked, household item could save your life as it did mine.
My family and I went out to dinner one Sunday afternoon. A couple of
hours after we returned home, my eyes started to swell and my skin began to itch. About 15 minutes later, things got worse, my eyes were really puffing up and my skin was on fire. In addition now welts were covering my body. You see I was experiencing an episode of an anapylactic allergic reaction. Apparently I was severely allergic to something I ate earlier.
Now things were getting very serious and my husband was looking for the house phone to call 911. Not being able to find the cordless (it was not on the base), he picked up his cell phone and dialed 911. 
The responder quickly picked up the phone and told him it was the
"State Police" and they would have to connect him to the "local" emergency responders. Unfortunately, the local responders NEVER picked up nor did the State Police return to the line. The phone just simply kept ringing. At this point I am going into shock from the allergic reaction on the floor beneath him. My throat is closing and I am having trouble breathing....
The love of my life, while still on hold on his cell phone, leaves me
to locate the house phone (thank God for the phone pager system). He
finds the phone, while still "on hold" on his "mobile" phone and calls
911 on the house land-line. He connects immediately and the ambulance is sent
from the fire department, which is less than 3 miles from my home.
The paramedics arrived and gave me two doses of medicine, put me on oxygen, and transported me to the Stamford Hospital where I was medicated and observed for several hours. You see at this stage of my
life I'd suddenly developed a severe allergic reaction to shell fish, something I had eaten all my life.
The reason I am writing this is to remind you that sometimes the simplest thing in your home can save a life. It could be an early morning alarm from a smoke detector (please have them on every level in your home and test them periodically), or it could be a phone connected to the land line of your house. 
The key here is although you may never use a house phone, there may be a time when your life depends on it. As my Grandmother used to say, "it's better to have and not need than to need and not have".
Mobile phones are wonderful, but your land line is literally your in-home life line. Would the Stamford 911 have eventually picked up the line? Likely so. But what if you are in a situation where those precious seconds are all you have - fire, home invasion, heart attack, etc.? What if you cannot get a cell phone signal at that moment or the line drops the call before you can give your address and condition? What if...
This is not one of those chain letters that I am sending with bad intentions or personal gain, but something that I hope just might save your life or the life of someone you love. Please share with your loved ones...
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