And now your host, Richard Thomas.
Hello, and welcome to It's a Miracle.
We've examined the phenomenon of miracles from just about every angle,
but never from the perspective of gender until now.
You're about to meet several women who, through courage, persistence,
and just plain old-fashioned good luck, have experienced a miracle in their lives.
Would men have been as fortunate?
We'll leave that for you to decide.
We begin with a story we call A Determined Mother.
Like all mothers, Kathy Rollinger was thrilled with the birth of her son, Jason, in 1976.
Jason was a gorgeous little boy.
Very energetic, wonderful child, lots of fun.
He was a wonderful son to raise.
When Jason was five, Kathy entered medical school,
giving her husband George an opportunity few fathers enjoy.
I would say that that offered me a real good chance to get close to my son.
George watched proudly as his son grew into an active, adventurous young boy,
and for the next 19 years, Jason enjoyed his parents' full attention.
And then, in 2000, Kathy gave birth to twin girls,
and Jason quickly adapted to the role of older brother.
But his sisters were not his only passion in life.
Jason had a love for motorcycles, and I tried to discourage it,
but he was bound and determined.
It was my worst nightmare that Jason would somehow become either critically injured
or die from a motorcycle accident.
And on July 14, 2001, her worst nightmare came true.
Jason was run down by a hit-and-run driver
and left in the middle of the road with his motorcycle burning nearby.
As the Rollingers arrived at the hospital,
an emergency team was fighting to stabilize Jason's condition prior to surgery.
Kathy and George were given just a few minutes to spend with their son.
I remember seeing Jason laying there, and I literally felt sick inside.
I felt almost nauseated.
Mr. and Mrs. Rollinger, I'm Dr. Tom.
Jason sustained some significant injuries to his pelvis.
Jason had suffered massive blood loss.
One of his lungs had collapsed, and his pelvis had been crushed.
As a trained doctor, Kathy knew that her son's condition was critical.
From my medical training, I knew there was a high incidence of death
due to massive blood loss in the pelvis.
I tried to not focus on those complications,
but I knew that Jason's life was very much threatened.
And as a mother, that was difficult for me.
I had just had these beautiful twins,
and for some reason I thought that maybe God was going to take my son from me.
During Jason's surgery, all his parents could do was sit and wait.
As a doctor, it was incredibly hard to be in the waiting room,
because I wanted to be up there in the OR, and of course I couldn't be.
George was grief-stricken and very overwhelmed with the whole situation.
The waiting time during the operation was just unbearable.
I just sat and held hands a lot with my wife.
It was the worst feeling any parent could ever have.
Even though Jason's surgery had been successful, Kathy's emotions remained unsettled
and would soon send her on a journey she could never have predicted.
As I looked at Jason, I wondered if he'd ever be able to walk again.
I wondered how could someone rear end him on his motorcycle and leave,
with Jason lying there in the middle of the road, totally helpless,
with a burning motorcycle that could have burned him alive.
And yet, whoever did this chose to leave.
The emotional conclusion, when it's a miracle, continues.
Get ready for one of the hottest new teen dramas on TV.
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Sunday Night in the Spotlight on I...
The next day, Kathy found herself drawn to the scene of the accident.
At that point, there weren't any meaningful answers on who ran him over, who left,
and I thought that maybe I would find some clue for this person to be held accountable for.
What she found instead was a desolate stretch of road that held only remnants of her son's ordeal.
I could see the area where the motorcycle had been engulfed in flames.
I envisioned Jason being somewhat in front of that.
I began to search along the side of the road.
I picked up a tail light from his bike, a deflector off a car, and things like that,
and I didn't know if they would be meaningful, but I thought I would show them to the police.
I picked up Jason's T-shirt, and I just held it in my hand and I looked at it.
And so that was really difficult for me.
Later that day, Kathy went to the police station to speak with the officer in charge of the case.
Is Officer Garen working today? How about Sergeant Fett? Okay, thanks.
Ma'am?
Yeah.
They informed me at that time that Sergeant Fett would be back on Wednesday.
Not till Wednesday.
Wednesday.
Time was of the essence.
Okay.
Okay, thank you.
And I was thinking that a lot of time was slipping by.
People's memories are short.
Witnesses are reluctant to come forward.
And so I decided to go out to the impound lot.
I wanted to see his motorcycle, and I wanted to see if I could figure out some more information.
But she was not prepared for the emotional impact the sight of her son's motorcycle would have on her.
And there I saw this mangled motorcycle laying there.
You could hardly tell what the front and the back end was. It was absolutely burnt to a crisp.
I'm thinking, oh my goodness, Jason was within inches of being burned alive.
I remember looking at that bike and thinking that the first person that could have assisted him was the person that left the scene.
What kind of person would do that to another human being?
Five days after Jason's accident, Kathy was finally able to meet with the officer in charge of the case.
But unfortunately, Sergeant Thomas Fett was the bearer of more bad news.
Sergeant Fett, I wanted to show you this. I found Jason's T-shirt and some other items at the accident scene.
I thought they might be important.
When Mrs. Rollinger came into the station, I knew what she was looking for. She wanted closure.
Unfortunately, we were at pretty much a standstill.
The hardest thing for me was to tell Mrs. Rollinger that I could not give her that closure because I had nothing.
We don't have any skid marks on the roadway. We don't have any paint transfer to his motorcycle.
We didn't even have a vehicle description, the color of a car.
It's great that you found these, but unfortunately none of these are going to bring me to who struck your son.
He was very kind. He was very caring.
And he basically told me that I'm sorry, but we have no witnesses and we have a few grill pieces that we collected at the scene as evidence.
And that is the sum total of what we have.
We need somebody to give us who struck your son.
Bottom line, we've got to get a witness.
Correct.
Through my years of experience, that person didn't come forward that night.
It was very rare that they would come forward after the fact.
Witnesses, we were at a dead end. We could go no further.
Thank you for meeting with me.
You're welcome.
When I left the police station that day, I was very dejected.
Have a good day.
I just knew that I had to find this person that left my son there to die.
The dramatic conclusion of when It's a Miracle continues.
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