The Barnum Bailey Circus Human Chandelier raised like it had hundreds of time. The audience as always was enthralled.
There, hanging by her hair as one of eight performers, Samantha Pitard from CRS, heard the overhead carabiner crack and then felt the rush of all of them plummeting to the stage floor.
The 800-pound chandelier crashed down on all of them.
Somehow Samantha thought of her deceased grandmothers on her way down. Guardian angels?
Beneath her, just before the fall, were the stage hands completing the task of removing the silk chandelier cover from the stage floor.
It was that serendipitous moment that saved Samantha years of surgeries and rehabilitation like the other seven girls. On her flight towards the floor, Samantha bumped the shoulder of the stage hand on the ground. Everyone thinks this moment served to take some of the force out of her impact.
She was able to sit up immediately. She didn’t know she had two spinal fractures. She’d also bitten through her tongue and blood shot out and drenched her.
The other girls were far worse. She called out in roll call their names asking if they were alive. Many were softly crying. All of them also had a punctured lung. Most had neck and spinal fractures.
Today some of the girls limp but are walking. Miracles.
This is my second installment of Samantha’s story. You don’t want to miss tomorrow’s exciting unbelievable conclusion.
The day after the accident, in her words, with her swollen stitched tongue, here’s Samantha’s TV interview post-accident… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkmf0c7jpVE Please watch it.
Christine Rich
Running out of time… THE stretch video for your home use:
https://courses.christinerichstudio.com/p/flexible-forever/
Copyrighted & published by Christine Rich
Master teacher, coach and author
The book: The Truth About Amazing Kids
