Two Who Were Saved : ‘My Son Is Walking Testimony . . . ‘

Suzanne Harbin knows the difference a few seconds can make. Those ticks of a clock became critically important on Jan. 8, 1981, the day her then-17-year-old son was struck by a car while walking his bike through a Huntington Beach intersection.

Phillip Harbin suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and was rushed by ambulance to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, only a short drive away.

“The car slammed into him at 45 m.p.h and he was thrown 125 feet, hitting the front of his head on the windshield and the back on the pavement,” Harbin said.

“He bled a lot but the ambulance was able to phone in his injuries and a trauma team was waiting and prepared for him. If he had had to go to another hospital, he would have died.”

Phillip Harbin suffered brain damage, which mostly affects his judgment, and is still recovering in a Ventura hospital. But the 25-year-old is able to walk and talk, and is a wiz at electronics, his mother said.

Suzanne Harbin said she is “appalled” at the announcement that the hospital will close its trauma unit by year’s end.

“I have offered them money and offered to help raise money,” she said. “I see no reason why people should let this (closing) go on. My son is walking testimony to the importance of this trauma center.”