Never alone again....

I've come some what to the time frame in the stories of my youth to this one that impacted our family quite dramatically.
Dennis had succumbed gradually to the effects of Muscular Dystrophy to the point where he fell on a regular basis simply due to the fact his muscles were not strong enough to carry his body. It was a slow struggle for him to get back up to his own two feet again to continue walking, but was something he was determined to do to keep on with what he hoped would be a regular life.
One day while at school there was a brief storm that left the ground cold, wet and slippery. When school was out Dennis headed straight for home, cutting through a back ally to shorten the trip from the school building to the house. While in the ally he fell down and started his customary method of getting himself up to a standing position again. This entailed finding a stationary object such as a tree, a door, or a building wall. Under normal conditions he would kind of pull himself up against the stationary object and his body would lean at a slant, he would then walk his feet back under his slanted body. The problem he encountered this stormy day was the slippery surface, which would not allow him to get the traction needed to finish his standing procedure. Each time he needed traction, his feet would slip out and away from him causing him to fall back to the ground. It was as if he were trapped in a cage. It was a situation he could not get himself out of himself.
As the day light was ebbing away, Mom and Dad became concerned enough that Dad left the house in an effort to find Dennis. The fact that Dennis had not come home right after school was not a concern as we would often play or stay with friends for a brief time on our own before coming home. Some phone calls had been made and when there was no accounting for Dennis's where abouts Dad started the little search party. His first obvious look was to do a reverse trip from the house to the school.
Dennis had started to crawl on his hands, belly and knees through the muddy surface towards the house as that was the only forward progress he could make. As Dad got over the foot bridge and to the start of the ally he saw Dennis and was then able to get Dennis home to warmth and safety, but also with the knowledge that things could easily have turned out very badly for Dennis.
As Dennis recounted his inability to get to a standing position he also was truly sobered by the knowledge that his inability to get up could have cost him his life if he would have not been found and was stranded in that ally after the cold had set in after sundown.
I remember Mom and Dad telling him that from that point on he was never to be alone again. It became a personal commandment to him that he could go nowhere without Vic or me with him again.
It was a proclamation that he hated to have to adhere to but also knew it was one he would have to follow for his own good.
From this experience it became obvious to Mom and Dad that they had better start getting some medical attention for Dennis's condition so appointments were made to get Dennis into the doctors office for some evalutations of some sort.
Dennis was very healthy in most every area. He did not have seizures, coughs, fevers, or any illness related symptoms in this regard but it was obvious his body was becoming arched and his strength was far below average.
This particular experience slapped us all into a changing of our daily routine and attitudes.