ShawneeDispatch.com

Mike Gordon loved the charge of energy that came with being a firefighter.

He moved to the area from his hometown of Blue Mound, Kan., looking for a little excitement, but he wasn’t finding it as an auto mechanic. A friend was a volunteer firefighter in Shawnee and suggested Gordon look into it.

“Being an auto mechanic just wasn’t the challenge and the thrill that I was looking for,” Gordon said. “When I went inside on my first working house fire, that was an adrenaline rush like I’d never experienced. That was it; that was what I wanted to do. It was an incredible rush; I loved it.”

But a year ago, after more than 16 years as a firefighter, it was Gordon who needed the help, when he suffered an unexpected brain aneurysm.

“The fire department that I grew up with and worked with over the years ended up being the ones that came to save me when I needed them,” Gordon said.

Gordon began his career as a firefighter working as a volunteer with the Merriam Fire Department. On Jan. 1, 1991, he began working fulltime with the Shawnee Fire Department, eventually becoming the driver-operator on his crew.

He remembers his first major fire at the Shawnee American Legion in his first year, and several rescues through the years, though nothing he would attribute solely to himself.

“One of the first thing you learn in the fire department is everybody’s a team,” he said. “Our team, we rescued a number of people off of balconies at Arrowhead Apartments, and we ran more injury accidents than I really care to remember. We ran a few injury accidents that I wish I could forget.”

Gordon’s life changed this past summer when he went home from work early with a headache. But nothing seemed really wrong until the next morning, June 26, as he and his girlfriend were preparing to fly to Florida, where he planned to propose.

“With her engagement ring packed in my little suitcase, we were ready to get on a plane that day, and we ended up going to the hospital,” he said.

Gordon experienced something like a stroke, and the paramedics that came to his aid were several with whom he’d worked over the years.

“All the people that you work with and live with 24 hours at a time, running calls to help other people, all the sudden, those guys are there to help me,” Gordon said.

Gordon needed brain surgery to stabilize him and release pressure once he arrived at the emergency room, and he eventually would have two more brain surgeries. He was in a coma for two weeks.

“It was close enough that they were about to pull the plug – they were on the verge of farming out my organs,” he said.

Doctors discovered Gordon had an aneurysm caused by an arteriovenous malformation, a defect in his circulatory system. There was nothing he could have done to prevent it; ironically, he and his soon-to-be fiancée, Jeannette, had been training for a fitness challenge for emergency response personnel.

“We had both lost body fat, we had both gained muscle, we were both in great shape, looking forward to a great summer,” he said.

Once Gordon awoke from his coma, he went through a long process of recovery and rehabilitation. It took time to regain his memory and speech. He had to overcome another challenge, as well: because his lungs were weakened after 24 days on a ventilator, he contracted pneumonia in his left lung. He had to have surgery to clean the infection out of his lungs.

Gordon got out of hospital at the end of August, and he learned that he had lost some of his peripheral vision. He quickly realized this would limit his ability to continue as a fire truck driver.

“There’s so many times when people either fail to yield or would refuse to yield, no matter how loud the sirens are or how many lights you use,” he said. “Driving a fire truck takes such complete concentration, that with perfect vision, there are still times when people just don’t seem to understand to yield right of way to emergency vehicles. I wasn’t sure if I would be 100 percent when the bells rang, so I had to make the decision that I felt it would be in everyone’s best interest that I retire.”

It was a hard decision for someone who felt he had finally found his life’s calling in the fire department, but Gordon said he just didn’t feel he could continue.

“Feeling that I wouldn’t be 100 percent, I didn’t want to take the risk of holding the department back or not being able to do the job when the time came,” he said.

Gordon finally got to Florida in January to get married, and in February, the Shawnee Fire Department had a retirement party in his honor. He was presented with letters from President Bush, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and 3rd District U.S. Congressman Dennis Moore, among many other awards and commendations.

The fire trucks had been fitted with “Get well, Gordo” stickers since his illness, and at the party, he got the chance to officially peel them off.

Gordon said he was overwhelmed.

“Since this happened, the men and women of the Shawnee Fire Department, not only were they there to make the call when I needed them the most, they continued to be there for me, my family and my fiancée,” he said. “The support from the men and women of the Shawnee Fire Department was phenomenal.”

Now Gordon is dealing as best he can with his retirement. He says he misses making presentations during fire safety week at local schools and even the loud whine of the sirens.

“I miss it like you can’t imagine,” he said. “I still live close enough to fire station one that I hear them when they go out the door on a call.”

Gordon said staying in contact with the his former co-workers has made retirement easier.

“They’re more than just great friends, they’re one great big family,” he said.

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