By Julie Scharper
The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — Kristin Sherman, 16, was driving her little brother and their dog Sadie to Chick-fil-A in the Harmans area on a wet Saturday when her Ford Escape skidded through an intersection, collided with a mail truck and spun into a fire hydrant.
Remarkably, Kristin, her brother, Christopher, 11, and the occupants of the mail truck escaped injury. But Sadie was not so lucky. The six-pound toy fox terrier appeared to be unconscious. Blood trickled from her nose and her breath rattled in her chest.
As Christopher began to cry, Kristin called home to say, “I think I just killed my best friend,” her mother recalled last week.
But rescuers from the Anne Arundel County Fire Department and the Odenton Volunteer Fire Department managed to revive Sadie with an oxygen mask designed to fit an animal’s snout. It was the first time the equipment, which was donated to the county in April, was used to save the life of a pet, the fire department said.
“I think that them giving her oxygen as quickly as they did was the difference between life and death,” said the children’s mother, Beverly Sherman, 45.
In the past, rescuers used human oxygen masks to resuscitate pets, but the masks did not supply oxygen efficiently to animals. Maury and Lynn Chaput, the owners of Canine Fitness Center in Crownsville, raised the money for the masks and donated them to the county.
More than half of the county’s 30 fire stations now have the masks, which can be adjusted to fit both large and small pets.
When crews arrived at the accident scene at the intersection of Park Circle Drive and Race Road on Sept. 6, they made sure that all of the humans were not injured, then turned their attention to Sadie.
“I thought, ‘This is going to be really bad. The dog is going to die right here with the little boy watching,’” said Erika Nesvold, a volunteer EMT with the Odenton crew.
Lt. Susan Egan, a firefighter and paramedic with the county fire department, picked up Sadie and wrapped her in a blanket. Nesvold cradled the dog in her arms and placed the oxygen mask on her nose.
The rescue workers asked Christopher to hold the bottle of oxygen and speak softly to Sadie, hoping that the boy’s voice would reassure the dog.
After about 20 minutes, Sadie appeared to perk up. Her eyes fluttered open and she turned her head to face Christopher, Nesvold said.
Meanwhile, Beverly Sherman, 45, was rushing to the accident scene. She had been exercising when Kristin called and she fell off the treadmill and slammed into some cabinets when she heard the news. She said she hurried out of the house, leaving the treadmill running, the television on and the front door and garage of their Elkridge home open.
Her husband, Christopher Sherman, 45, a volunteer firefighter in Howard County, also rushed to the crash.
The family brought Sadie to an emergency vet clinic where she was kept overnight for observation.
After a couple of days, the dog was eating pureed, wet food and walking once again — although slowly and gingerly.
Beverly Sherman said Sadie suffered a head injury and she’s not sure whether the dog will be able to perform her tricks - rolling over, giving high fives with her paws — again. But her prognosis looked hopeful a few nights ago when the dog stretched out her paw and placed it in Kristin’s hand.
Sherman said she believes it’s a miracle that Kristin, a junior at Howard High; Christopher, a seventh-grade student at Elkridge Landing Middle; and Sadie escaped more serious injuries.
“I truly believe there were angels on all three of those shoulders that day,” she said. “Even the dog’s.”