The Passionate Friar
Monday September 5th, 2011 with Phelonius Friar
In Memoriam of Ryan Snutch, 1985 (or 1986?) - 2011

This past weekend, I was with friends at the Whispering Pines campground near Plantagenet. We hadn't seen each other in a while and this was a way to reconnect and have a low stress weekend away from our respective houses and the responsibilities that went with it. Yesterday morning, we awoke to another huge thunderstorm passing through. We were eyeing each other at the ferocity of the event when we heard the terrible crack of a lightening strike very close to where we were. I was getting up in the tent to go investigate to see if there were any trees down or other damage when I heard the woman screaming over the sound of the rain. I was the first uninjured person on the scene, which was only 10 metres from where we were camped, to find the dead man, lying face down in the rain... the woman frantically trying to pull him out of the tent and wailing. It turns out she was his sister-in-law, but his wife (who had a burn to her shoulder and a numb arm from the strike) had whisked their 18 month old child, who was miraculously untouched, to a nearby house. My friend Kat, who runs a daycare and had been trained in CPR as a result, started to try to revive the man, and she was joined by another stranger, Mark, who performed mouth to mouth while Kat did the chest compressions. I made sure everyone else was taken care of and safe, that people were where they needed to be to get the emergency crews in as fast as possible, and talked to the dispatcher while the first responders were on the way. Our friend Caycee took care of all the other folk who were camping with us, including her child and Kat's two children. By the time the first rescue truck had arrived, the man's colour had returned, so the CPR was effective at keeping him oxygenated. The crew took over and the man was taken to the Hawkesbury General Hospital, where they worked on him for an hour before he was finally pronounced dead. There was nothing anyone could do, his injuries were too serious and he never had a chance. Ryan Snutch was 26 years old, he leaves behind his partner RoseAnn Guard, daughter of the people who own the campground we were all staying at, and their 18 month old son Julien. I didn't know Ryan, but I know people who did... they were friends with the people who owned the campground, and had watched RoseAnn grow up over the years. I can't play songs about Ryan because I only said hi to him a couple of times on Friday and Saturday before his death, so I played songs that reflect my mood, thoughts, or whim in response to what happened. Rest in peace Ryan... http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/09/04/18641196.html