“Time was of the essence, and these guys were there. They saved her life.”

By Debbie Palmer, City of Strongsville:

Gianna Calhoun doesn’t remember riding her e-bike in her neighborhood June 19. She doesn’t remember hitting the pothole that would send her flying over the handlebars, landing head-first on the pavement.

She does know who helped save her life that day. Gianna, 11, and her dad, Cody, visited Fire Station 2 on Howe Road Oct. 20 to meet some of the paramedics who provided life-saving care and gave her a chance to start the long road to recovery.

“Seeing you doing well means the world to us – it really does,” Capt. Paul Noel, who was on scene that day, told Gianna.

Cody said Gianna’s sister, Aubrey, 10, ran to a nearby home in the High Point neighborhood for help after the accident, and then called her dad, who jumped in his truck and arrived at the scene a just minutes before the paramedics.

“Time was of the essence, and these guys were there,” Cody Calhoun said. “They saved her life.”

Firefighter Dominic Francini, who drove the ambulance that day, said they found Gianna unresponsive. Normally, they’d transport a high-risk trauma patient to MetroHealth Medical Center, but “we saw she didn’t have an airway and she started seizing.”  

Fearing she wouldn’t make it to Metro, they raced to Southwest General for interim care until the Life Flight helicopter could take her to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, where she went directly into surgery to reduce swelling in her brain.

Cody said Gianna spent a week in intensive care, including four days in an induced coma, and a week in a step-down room before being transferred to the Cleveland Clinic for rehab for seven weeks.

“Her vitals were good every single day,” Cody said.

 Home now for two months, Gianna has made remarkable progress. Initially unable to move her right side, she can now walk normally and golf with her dad. She still undergoes physical, occupational and speech therapy, and struggles with expressive aphasia (speech difficulties), but is planning to join her sixth-grade classmates at Strongsville Middle School in January.

Cody said Gianna typically wears a helmet, but lent it to a friend riding with her on the bike that day. He believes Gianna’s recovery is due in part to her lifestyle beforehand — she swam on the High Point neighborhood swim team and eats a healthy diet.

“She’s gotten such amazing care,” he said. “Every day has been a miracle since it happened.”