Emily Gindele and Colin Reedy were out to eat at their favorite restaurant last October when they got an alert on their phones. As volunteer firefighters for the West Whiteland Fire Company in Exton, they didn’t hesitate to respond.
Emily described what happened next. “We were driving to the firehouse to hop on a truck to go to that call. That’s when a monsoon rain came and we hydroplaned off the side of the road.”
They had been a couple for five years and lived together with their dog Chandler. This summer, Colin planned to propose.
“He was just the goofiest person ever. He would make everyone laugh – always the loudest person in the room. He always wanted to help whoever he could,” Emily said.
When the car left the road, it crashed into a tree, killing Colin instantly and tossing Emily into the backseat.
Firefighters from the neighboring Lionville Fire Company worked to free Emily from the wreckage using the “Jaws of Life,” a rescue tool.
“If the firefighters and the paramedics didn’t work as diligently as they did, I would probably not be here,” she said.
Paramedics rushed Emily to the emergency room at Paoli Memorial Hospital. A doctor in the ambulance called the trauma center on the way there to alert them.
Emily’s dad Mark Gindele, who donated blood at the drive, explained, “He was having difficulty getting Emily’s blood pressure. She had hemorrhaged and was losing a lot of blood and that’s why they couldn’t get any blood pressure readings.”
There were two trauma surgeons on duty, and Mark said, “Both of them were working on Emily. We were very lucky.”
Emily spent 36 days in the hospital, the first 10 on a ventilator in a medically induced coma. She broke her back, several bones including 9 ribs, and fractured her skull. She had traumatic brain injury (TBI) and her spleen ruptured and had to be removed. She also had a stroke.
One of the trauma surgeons told her family Emily was minutes away from dying. Blood transfusions helped save her. “It was so scary to hear that she had organs removed and how much blood she needed,” said Emily’s older sister Kristen Skulsky.
Emily has spent months rebuilding her body and mind with physical and cognitive therapy, but what about her heart? Colin had a “servant’s heart” according to his mother. All who knew him said he always went out of his way to help people.
In his day job, Colin worked as a plumber and wanted to eventually open his own business to allow people who couldn’t afford it to have plumbing services.
How do you honor someone as loved and special as Colin?
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all the generous blood donors so I decided to do my own blood drive in honor of Colin,” Emily said.
With help from the American Red Cross, she organized the Colin Reedy Memorial Blood Drive held May 17th at the West Whiteland Fire Company in Exton, where she and Colin had trained and worked.
Colin’s parents Brian and Tracy Reedy, along with his sister Jordan, came to the blood drive to support Emily and honor their beloved son.
“One of the most important things for a parent when they lose a child is that their name is said and that they’re remembered,” Tracy said. Seeing people at the blood drive honor him and repeat his name “makes him feel more alive and that he has a legacy that is following his death.”
Brian is a retired police officer who donated blood at the drive. He described his son as a “very hard worker” and “very dedicated.” He considered it an honor to have Colin’s name associated with a Red Cross blood drive, “Knowing that he died a hero, and Emily putting this together for him, and all the people that came and are willing to give blood for a great cause.”
Emily would have died if not for her blood transfusions. Now, just a few months after the accident that forced her to learn how to walk and talk again, she is taking that gift of life and paying it forward in Colin’s memory.
“She was born strong,” her mother Fran said. After the accident, Fran slept in the intensive care unit (ICU) by Emily’s side for a month.
Fran and Emily’s sister Kristen donated blood at the drive for the first time. “I never really thought about donating blood before so the fact that you know I’m able to do that and give back – it means a lot to me as her older sister,” Kristen said.
Several first responders also donated, like Chief Lee Benson and Officer Courtenay DeLaney from the West Whiteland Township Police who said, “Even though we’re in different services – fire, EMS, police, we’re all really one big family.” Officer DeLaney served on the police detail for Colin’s funeral and donated blood out of a “sense of duty and honor.”
Chief Benson has donated blood on and off for the past 40 years, after he started doing it in the Navy. “The fire company helps us. We help the fire company. We’re all doing public service, so you know it’s a good thing,” he said.
Kim Owen has donated blood and platelets many times before, she but donated this time for a special reason. “This is an amazing cause. My son is one of the firefighters, so it just made sense to come and do this today.” She dropped off homemade cookies for firefighters on her way out.
Madison Jones worked with Emily and Colin as a volunteer firefighter. She was one of many firefighters who talked about how welcoming Colin was to new recruits.
“He was a very amazing guy. He lit up the room when he’d come in. We’d all be like, ‘Colin is here! Yes!’ He and Emily were a great pair,” she said.
During the Colin Reedy Memorial Blood Drive, phlebotomists successfully collected 77 units of blood, with 24 people donating for the first time. In the United States, someone needs blood every 2 seconds, and one donation can save more than one life.
Nancy Lindberg donates blood every 8 weeks and calls Emily her “fourth child.” She said, “She’s so young, so if she ropes all of her friends in, that’s a long span of getting a bunch of young people to start donating!”
Emily is working hard to heal and return to firefighting. Memories of Colin will be with her forever. “I think about him all the time. I’ll see things that he liked and that he liked doing. My first thought is always Colin.” She said, “No one is going to replace him. I miss him a lot.”
Colin Reedy’s fire helmet hangs on an inside wall of Station 6, the West Whiteland Fire Company. His name is etched in stone on the memorial to fallen firefighters outside his firehouse.
If you would like to donate blood, visit RedCrossBlood.org. You can also download the free Red Cross blood donor app by texting BLOODAPP to 90999 or search “American Red Cross” in app stores.
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PHOTO: Volunteer firefighters Emily Gindele and Colin Reedy with their dog Chandler. Submitted photo
- Written by Jenny Farley
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