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Amber Police Chief Michael Lemaster (left) was the first person on the scene after Daniel Tamez of Amber accidentally severed seven tendons, the artery, the nerves and three major blood veins in his left wrist with the pocket knife he holds in his hand. Lemaster made a tourniquet with a plastic bag and saved Tamez’s life.
Discussion
‘Very bad day for ... family’
By KAREN BRADY
Staff Writer
“Very bad day for wife and family.”
These are the words Daniel Tamez of Amber entered into his daily journal on Thursday, May 22, the day he severed seven tendons, the artery, the nerves and three major blood veins in his left wrist with a pocket knife.
“I was spraying weed killer and I remember getting off the tractor to cut a branch in my way,” said Tamez. “I bent over to cut the branch, but obviously I missed and cut myself. I saw blood shoot out and then I was covered with blood. I called my wife and said ‘I’ve cut myself, you need to come to Amber.’”
“He was so calm when he called, I was not prepared for what I saw,” said Tamez’s wife Debbie. “I will not forget what I saw as long as I live.”
Debbie, who was buying garden plants in Tuttle, called her daughter whose husband, a Newcastle police officer, called 911 and Debbie headed for Amber.
After receiving a call from the county asking him to check on the 911 call, Amber Police Chief Michael Lemaster headed for the Tamez residence.
“I caught a glimpse of what I thought was a person falling,” he said.
Upon investigation, Lemaster discovered Tamez, covered in blood and bleeding badly from a deep gash in his left arm. He had walked a quarter mile before collapsing.
Lemaster, a veteran police officer who has experienced the horrors of aiding plane crash victims, gunshot victims and electrocution victims, went to his truck to find something to use as a tourniquet.
Lemaster looked in vain until he spotted a plastic bag from his dentist containing dental floss and a new toothbrush. Lemaster grabbed the plastic bag and hurried back to Tamez.
Seconds later, Debbie arrived and held her husband’s damaged arm over his heart as Lemaster tried to tie the plastic bag around Tamez’s arm. The bag was too small so Lemaster ripped it open to make it long enough and applied it as a tourniquet.
“It went from a river to a stream,” said Debbie. “He was saved by a plastic bag.”
When Tamez’s step daughter arrived with a length of clothesline rope in her car, Lemaster added another tourniquet to Tamez’s arm.
“We could immediately tell the difference in the blood flow,” said Lemaster.
As Debbie sat in the tall weeds holding her husband, tormented by mosquitos and the sweltering heat waiting for the ambulance, and as Lemaster held a coat over the couple to keep the mosquitos off, they heard the ambulance pass them by.
“Talk about a helpless feeling, we knew we were running out of time, so Mike got on the radio and explained our exact location to the dispatcher,” said Debbie. “Once the ambulance arrived, we drove to Chickasha at about 95 miles per hour, and that wasn’t fast enough. All four EMTs were working on him all the way to Chickasha.”
Tamez underwent two-and-a-half-hours of surgery and is now sporting a cast from his wrist to his elbow.
“If it wasn’t for Mike, I’d be a ghost right now,” said Tamez. “I knew I was bleeding, but I didn’t know how bad. I don’t remember leaving the tractor, but I looked down the road and saw a truck. Thank God you were here, Mike.”
“I think it’s thanks to God everything worked out,” said Lemaster.
While Tamez remembers little about the accident and less about the events that followed, those same events are preternaturally embedded in the minds of Debbie and Lemaster.
“I don’t know anybody who could have survived that,” said Lemaster. “In my opinion, God had this all orchestrated.”
“Dad, my daughter and I had nightmares; we didn’t sleep for three days,” said Debbie. “It was that horrific. Daniel takes such good care of me, I don’t know what I would do without him.”
Curiously, there were several events that Debbie clearly remembers happening before her husband’s accident.
“I usually clean my mother’s house on Thursdays, but I didn’t feel like doing it that day for some reason. Plus I had a crappy old cell phone with crappy reception. I couldn’t make or get calls and I had put off getting a new one. I got a new one just two weeks ago,” she said. “If I hadn’t gotten a new cell phone, I wouldn’t have gotten that call. And if Mike had not gone down that dirt road, if he hadn’t looked to his right...so many little things...if one step hadn’t happened, it would have been too late. Mike’s my hero, he absolutely is. I was so glad to see him there. That little white plastic bag - that’s what did it.”
Daniel no longer carries the knife that cut him. Debbie plans to have it mounted on a plaque which will read “This knife almost took my life. This man saved my life.” She and Daniel will present it to Chief Michael Lemaster as a token of their deep appreciation and friendship.
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Transformations
What comes to mind when you think of the word, “Transformation”?Do you have fantastic thoughts of people or things changing into something amazing for example, Clark Kent turning into Superman or Bruce Banner becoming the Incredible Hulk or possibly something a little more down to earth like a caterpillar miraculously changing into the beautiful butterfly?
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GRADY COUNTY FAIR RESULTS
Plants
Potted Plants
(Several varieties combined)
First: (Adult) Ann O'Bar
Second: (Adult) Joyce Riker
Third: (Adult) Jallane Link -
AROUND THE AREA
SEPTEMBER 2
Poetry Reading
• When: Sept. 2, 7 p.m.
• Where: Eduardo’s Mexican Restaurant, Private Room, 3127 S. 4th St., Chickasha
• Details: Featured Poet is Carol Hamilton, writer, storyteller and Poet Laureate of Oklahoma 1995-97Hamilton’s website is www.carolhamilton.org. There is no admission fee to attend the Poetry Reading, and refreshments are available for purchase. For more information, contact Rockford Johnson, 224-0160 or 317-7506. -
Duncan nips Chicks for straight-game win
Duncan got their eighth match win of the season Tuesday, beating Nancy Waters’ Lady Chicks in straight games at the Activity Center.
The Chicks looked like they had a little hangover from Monday night’s tough road loss at Tecumseh, coming out flat again and dropping their first two games by identical 25-17 scores.
They came out firing on all eight cylinders for game three, running out to a 15-9 lead on the strength of a 7-0 run with Shelby Crosley serving, but the Demons battled back to tie it late and the Chicks let it slip away, 25-21. -
STATE SPORTS BRIEFS
NORMAN (AP) — Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops has named walk-on Patrick O'Hara as the starting place-kicker for the seventh-ranked Sooners.
Stoops said on his radio show Tuesday night that O'Hara won the competition with Jimmy Stevens, freshman Michael Hunnicutt and redshirt freshman Bryce Easley. -
OSU's Gundy still learning on job
STILLWATER (AP) — Mike Gundy hasn't lost his love for dialing up the right play to keep Oklahoma State's offense purring along.
That passion, which he has called the most enjoyable part of his job as head coach, was bred into him as an offensive coordinator. And he is a former starting quarterback for the Cowboys. -
Whimsical metal work, jewelry part of big art show at USAO
A showing of whimsical metal work and jewelry is scheduled to be on display at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma during Helen’s Show Sept. 10-Oct 1.
The show will feature the work of USAO graduate Helen Shafer. The exhibition will be open daily during normal business hours in the Davis Hall Third Floor Art Gallery on the USAO campus. The show is free and open to the public. An opening reception is scheduled Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. in the gallery. -
High-speed chase lands 1 in jail
A high-speed motorcycle chase down Highway 81 last Wednesday landed a Ninnekah man in jail and a felony charge of eluding a police officer.
Court records show that James William Hutchins, 21, blew by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Timothy Parrish at U.S. Highway 81 and County Road 1460 and was clocked going 144 miles per hour in a posted 70 miles per hour zone.
Parrish reported that he was sitting stationary at that location at about 3:45 p.m. on Aug. 25 when he observed a red motorcycle traveling southbound. He engaged his emergency lights and siren and pulled onto the roadway behind the Triumph motorcycle. -
5 inmates denied parole
Parole was recently denied for five Grady County inmates serving sentences with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
The following individuals were denied at the August Pardon and Parole Board meeting:
• Jeremiah Daniel Cline, who is serving a five-year sentence for distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and a five-year sentence for possession of a controlled dangerous substance, began his sentence in August 2008.
• Warren P. Diego, who is serving a 15-year sentence (10 years PTS) for lewd molestation, began his sentence in February 2009. -
Judge recuses herself from pharmacy case
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A state district judge has stepped aside from the first-degree murder trial of a pharmacist accused in the fatal shooting of an unconscious would-be robber.
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Transformations
