CHI-Creighton is one of two trauma centers in the Omaha area where paramedics take the most severely injured, for treatment.
Lives changed by those team - one, a woman whose husband lost his battle for life; another, the survivor of a semi truck crash.
Trauma nurses and surgeons got a lesson on their importance from Stacy Laue.
While her husband, Omaha police Sgt. Jason Pratt... didn't survive getting shot in 2003... medical teams fought for eight days to try to save him.
Despite losing her husband, Laue says she learned from their effort.
"The work that they do is unimaginable to most people,” Laue said. “They can't even fathom what shows up into that emergency department trauma bay. I know that it has a lasting impact on every member of that trauma team. I've spoken with them about that and how hard it is. They're really vested. They're vested in the outcome and the success of the things that they do."
That training and caring saved Cameron White's life.
"I'd say he has some resilience too, I mean he don't give up on you,” White said of Dr. Michel Wagner. “He's very special we can have that bond with him. I feel very lucky to have ended up in his care, very lucky."
About two months ago, a truck crash turned White’s newlywed life around.
The semi full of soybeans tipped over as Cameron drove near Hopkins, Missouri.
The father of three suffered 10 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, spinal fractures and had to have his stomach removed for a month.
Doctor Michel Wagner helped save his life.
Friday, they reunited - with a little something extra.
A Great Pyrenees, Bull Mastiff, Boxer... a puppy.
The same puppy born one day before the crash.
"This is obviously a very special moment because (White) gave me a piece of him and so every day I will remember him,” Wagner said. “Won't I puppy? And every day you'll take good care of me right?"
As for the name of the puppy?
We're open to suggestions.
Dr. Wagner didn't like the idea of calling the puppy "Triage"
