ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. (WXYZ) — After 18-year-old Connor Piper had a skiing crash at Mt. Holly on Feb. 7 and had to be taken to the emergency room, an off-duty trauma nurse in the same waiting room as him advocated for him to be seen faster, noticing concerning signs.
“He literally saved his life," Connor's mom Melissa Piper said. "If Jordan would not have been sitting next to him, my son would not be home today.”
It’s been an emotional few weeks for Melissa Piper. Her 18-year-old son, a senior at Lakeview High School, was excited to hit the slopes at Mt. Holly with his ski club a few weeks ago when every mother’s worst nightmare came true.
“They were just going down a hill and he didn’t realize that it was ramp hill," Melissa Piper said.
Connor Piper crashed and was taken to the emergency room at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc. He was in the waiting room for over an hour and unbeknownst to everyone, slowly bleeding out internally. It was unbeknownst to everyone, except Jordan Dickerson.
"Something led me there that day. Thank God I was there for me — my wife told me to go in — but I believe right there, if anybody else would have been sitting next to that kid, they might not have noticed," Dickerson said.
A trauma nurse by profession and a father of four, Dickerson was off the clock, getting checked for pneumonia and a virus he’d had for months. Despite his own health deteriorating and later finding out his heart was actually failing at the time, he still quickly spotted telling signs that Connor Piper may have been worse than he looked.
Immediately, he thought of his own children, and his nurse and fatherly instincts kicked in.
"When the nurse came back... she came to check on me and I said, 'you gotta get this guy right here,'" Dickerson explained.
Dickerson's son was skiing at Mt. Holly at that exact same time and actually saw Connor Piper's fall. He had called his dad to tell him about what he saw, and Dickerson realized the fall was worse that he thought.
With how concerned his son sounded about the tumble, Dickerson knew he had to speak up for Connor Piper. With his advocacy, Connor Piper finally got in to be seen, while Dickerson had to wait another three hours.
It was good timing because as soon as Connor Piper was taken back, his heart stopped.
"They shoot him up with adrenaline because his heart was suffocating with blood, all his organs were shutting down because he was bleeding internally," Melissa Piper said.
To thank him, Melissa Piper put out a call on social media to help find the mystery advocate hero. They connected on Wednesday over the phone and she says her family will be forever indebted.
"The whole circumstance was just God’s blessing," she said. "Connor would not be here without Jordan.”
After nearly two weeks, Connor is out of the hospital and recovering from multiple broken bones, punctured organs and sepsis. Melissa Piper says once he's better, they would all love to meet Dickerson in person and thank him.
