David & LaReita Berky

Hi family,

I’m sure word has spread amongst our family about our weekend adventures.If anyone is interested in watching the progress of James’ gunshot wound here it is. I’m adding pictures and descriptions daily 🙂

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6PEAFux3S9aRM55f6

Our bodies are amazing!

For those who didn’t get the full story, here it is:

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James was blessed with an abundance of guardian angels on Saturday. He was out with buddies doing tactical drills out in Elberta. They thought it was BLM land, but it was church land 🙂 It’s a popular shooting spot. When he reholstered his pistol, the trigger caught on some canvas from his thigh holster strap. The 9mm bullet discharged and had a clean entry and exit wound on the back of the calf. Doctors say it was a lucky place to get shot. No bones or arteries struck. “Tis a flesh wound”. If it was angled even 5-10% different it would have been a devastating wound.

His buddies called 911. The cops and ambulance arrived at the scene within 15 minutes and noticed the set-up with covers, targets, bullet-proof vests, etc. The cops then began joking around with them and teasing James for using a Turkish gun. “Dude. Why are you not using a Glock or Beretta?”
“Because I’m young and poor!”

15 minutes after the accident James sent a picture of his leg to the family chat with a caption of “oopsey”. I called him immediately, not in a panic, but very calm. I suggested instead of the ambulance ride to please have a buddy take him to the hospital, especially since he wasn’t bleeding out. The paramedics agreed. (Besides ambulance policy is to drive the patient to the closest hospital, which would be the Payson hospital. Payson hospital and providers aren’t in-network with our insurance, so it would be even more expensive with the ambulance ride on top of that!)

We met him at SF hospital. I went to the front desk before he arrived and told the lady the situation and if he can just do Instacare instead of the ER since he’s not bleeding out? You know you are in semi-rural Utah when the reply is, “well, when my son shot his foot…” (LOL)

But hospital policy is ER for gunshot wounds. Go figure! I asked the nurse assigned to James how many gunshot wounds she sees a year in Spanish Fork. “About 2-4”. Though in West Valley City they call those hospitals “the knife & gun clubs” because of the prevalence of those injuries in that area. 

James said the numbing of the area to irrigate with saline solution was more painful than the actual gunshot wound.

He stayed home from work on Monday. Threw away that holster and ordered a better one. Also a 3 pack of tourniquets to replace the one his buddy had and was used.
He’s feeling pretty good. Not much pain. No painkillers either. Though the first 3 days he did take 500mg of aspirin once a day to prevent blood clots.

Every day, multiple times a day, I say a prayer of thanks for the angels that protected him from it being any worse!