When my Aunt May was around nine years old she became very ill. It was cold weather and she had come down with a very bad cough and was very sick. She was being cared for by the family in the downstairs living room where she could be kept warm by the big wood burning stove.
Evey precaution was taken to keep the room warm with windows closed tight and curtains drawn to prevent drafts. May worsened. Her cough did not improve and her breathing became more difficult.
Her parents, Ruth and George Aldrich, began to truly fear for her life and decided to call in Sue Phelan as a nurse. When Sue arrived she watched May struggling to breath and decided that the problem was probably pneumonia.
To the surprise of the family, her first course of action was to pull the curtains aside, and throw open the window by the bed. The fresh, although cold, air rushed in and from that point on May began to improve. Little by little her struggle to breathe lessened and her sickness disappeared.
As the story was told all believed it was the increased supply of oxygen that Sue had provided which made her well.
May grew up, became a teacher, married, had children and lived to a ripe old age. She and Sue Phelan became very good friends.