Trauma Patient To Thank HCMC Doctor 26 Years Later | Health

Nikki Mauland is thanking the doctors at Hennepin County Medical Center for saving her life.  She suffered a head injury when a 300 pound school cafeteria table collapsed on her.  It happened in 1984.

She will go back to the hospital next Wednesday to say thank you. 

When she was 22 months old, she was hit with the table and taken to Johnson Memorial Hospital in Dawson, Minnesota.  Doctors there called HCMC.

Chief emergency medicine resident Dr. David Plummer remembers getting the call that a child needed immediate specialized care, so he flew to Dawson in a small plane despite icy, wintertime conditions.  When he arrived, Nikki was unconscious.  At one point, as he worked on her, he had to restart her heart.  He says it was a case he knew he'd never forget.

Nikki, now 27, says she always wanted to meet the doctor who saved her life.  When her uncle recently attended a class reunion and met a classmate who works at HCMC, Nikki knew it was time.  Turns out, Doctor Plummer still works there, and HCMC is now a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center.  On Wednesday, they'll see each other again-- 26 years later.