Nicole Young, wife of Fremont Police Officer Todd Young, has been through more anguish in one week, than most of us see in a lifetime. Todd suffered a severe gunshot wound to the pelvis while trying to arrest a suspect, last week.
"I was told he would not let them put him to sleep until he called his wife," said Nicole. "He called me and said he was at Highland Hospital and that he was OK and that he had just got hit in the leg."
But as we all know by now it was much worse than that.
"It is very fair to say that his injuries were extremely severe," said trauma surgeon Dr. Javid Sadjadi.
On Friday, at Highland Hospital, most of the main players came forward to tell their stories: the surgeon, the wife, the Red Cross, and the police chief.
All this, as a few miles away, suspect Andrew Barrientos prepared to appear in court. He can thank miracles by the hospital staff for not having to face a murder charge.
"They saved my husband's life," said Nicole.
You may have heard that Todd was bleeding badly when he was brought to the hospital. It turns out he received 60 units of red blood cells, essentially he bled out six times his normal blood supply.
"Basically in that situation, when you're doing the operation, when you look you don't even necessarily see the blood vessels that are bleeding because there's basically blood welling up where the injuries are. It's a struggle to find the exact location of the injuries," said Sadjadi.
Todd remains sedated in intensive care and still faces more surgeries just to close his abdominal wounds. The good news is he has a fine chance at recovery and a wife who can still insulate her children -- a bit at least.
"They know daddy was shot in the leg and he is sleeping so he can get better and come home. And that's all they know and that's all they need to know," said Nicole.
