Pray for Dorothy

This was copied directly from a slowtwitch forum. Just this last weekend at IM Florida.


"Dorothy Barnett Griffin, who many of you know from LifeTime Masters Swimming (the Plano, TX group), is in the hospital in Panama City. Dorothy and Mike Griffin were doing their first full Ironman triathlon Saturday in Panama City Florida. Apparently Dorothy had some issues late in the swim (unsure what precipitated the difficulties) and was pulled from the water. She was not breathing so they immediately began CPR, and there was water in her lungs. When they got her to shore they used the defibrillator and got her to the hospital. They pulled Mike from the route at about mile 56 as he had a fast swim and was unaware of any problems. Yesterday they drilled a hole in her head to release the pressure on her brain, which was swelling, and put some type of stint in it. She was placed on a ventilator and is in intensive care. Dorothy and Mike's parents and their kids and some of Dorothy's siblings are in Florida with her."


Since this first post on November, 5th Dorothy has had another hole drilled in her head and been almost taken off life support because they couldn't find sign of any brain activity. They checked again and were able to see that there was still some activity there and some blood was getting to her brain. I haven't heard much lately but her condition was not improving as of Wednesday.

What makes this even more tragic is that she was widowed about 3 years ago. She has either 3 or 4 kids (I haven't been able to gather anything conclusive from the previous posts.) all from her previous marriage. The kids are older, ranging fromm 11-16 or so and were on the beach waiting for the mom to come out of the water. She was the second to last swimmer and had been taking breaks, holding onto kayaks, laughing and apparently in a good mood. It was the latter part of the swim when she all of a sudden disappeared. They quickly got her out and brought her to shore while doing CPR on the jet ski. Can you imagine those kids standing on the beach looking for their mom to cheer her on in her first attempt at an ironman, no sign of her when all of a sudden here appears a jet ski with their mom laying motionless on it while a medical team gives her CPR? Awful. Every report I've heard said the first aid staff did a superb job trying to revive her, and they had her in an ambulance within a very short time.

So now these kids, who have already lost their dad can do nothing but hope and pray that their mom will survive. It breaks my heart. It really does. Here she was competing in and endurance event, an Ironman, something I hope to accomplish one day. It's a sport I love, it gets people to live a more active and fulfilling lifestyle. She's from my very same metroplex. I could drive up to plano in about 45 minutes or so. I've talked with some athlete in the area who know and have even trained with her. It hits pretty darn close to home.

I don't know her latest condition but please pray that she is able to make a full recovery.