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Shining moments: Timely service

The willingness to give of themselves turned out to be a special blessing for a group of missionaries in the Australia Perth Mission, especially for Sister Ramona Page.

Responding to an appeal from the Red Cross, Sister Page and another 124 missionaries donated blood on July 9, 1993. An influenza epidemic on Australia's west coast cut off the supply from many regular donors. The missionaries accounted for 75 percent of the blood donated on that Friday.Two days later, Sister Page and her companion were walking along a street in suburban Perth. Less than a 10-minute walk from the Greenmount meetinghouse where the sisters were going to attend a fireside, Sister Page was struck by a car and thrown more than 85 feet. She sustained serious head and leg injuries.

Local residents quickly rallied to her aid. Chris Glossop, who lives near the site of the accident, hurried to the scene and gave Sister Page a priesthood blessing. He said he was amazed at the way people in the area responded to Sister Page's needs, including one woman who continually tried to contact Mission Pres. Daniel Jones, and did not give up until she was able to inform him of the accident. One family provided a covering to protect Sister Page from the rain until the ambulance arrived.

She was taken to a nearby hospital where the medical staff gave her no hope for survival and transferred her to Royal Perth Hospital, a major city trauma center. Upon arrival there, she was given a maximum of two days to live.

Her parents, Raymond and Lana Page of Frankston, Victoria, Australia, flew to Perth the next day to begin a bedside vigil. Before he left home, Brother Page, president of the Melbourne Australia Dandenong Stake, telephoned his son, Damon, who is serving a mission in Russia, to tell him of the accident.

Sister Page remained in a coma for two days, but has since made a miraculous recovery beyond the expectations of the medical staff that attended her.

Her family attributes her remarkable recovery to the priesthood administration and to the faith and prayers of members of the Church and others.

And, since she required four blood transfusions after the accident, she was also blessed by the willingness of the missionaries to donate blood two days earlier. - Maureen A. Roberts, media specialist for Perth regional public affairs, Warwick Ward, Perth Australia Dianella Stake

(Another in a series of "Shining Moments." Illustration by Deseret News artist Reed McGregor.)

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