As the ward continued to grieve Alexa's death, another accident happened. Like several ward members, the Balkman family lives on Lake Sammamish and spends a lot of time on the water. One August evening at sundown, 16-year-old Chandler and his father, Steve—the Jensens' home teachers— were swimming and decided to race one another to a nearby buoy. On the way back to shore, Steve heard a boat approach and saw it pass directly over where he thought Chandler was swimming underwater.
Chandler's older sister, Jessica, was driving the boat home after visiting friends. Neither Chandler nor Steve had noticed the boat was missing from the covered boat lift at the dock, so they hadn't been listening or watching for it to return. Because of the time of day and the direction she was driving, Jessica couldn't see anything in the water.
It wasn't until Chandler surfaced that Jessica realized that Chandler's right leg had been caught in the boat's propeller and had been nearly severed at the hip.
Steve swam to Chandler and held him up. "It was just a horrible feeling," says Steve. "At that moment I didn't think he was going to make it. I thought these were my last few moments with my son. So I held him close, and we started swimming in."
The boat had stalled, so Jessica was unable to go to them, but she called for paramedics on her cell phone. Geoff, Chandler's older brother, was painting the house when he heard the yelling. He hurried out in a canoe to Steve and Chandler, and got both of them on board without tipping over the canoe. As soon as they reached the dock, Steve gave Chandler a blessing.
Gary Folkman, who was then serving as the bishop of the ward, lived four houses away and came running when he heard the commotion. He helped Geoff and Steve carry Chandler inside the house, where it was warm. Chandler's femoral artery had been severed, and he was losing blood rapidly. Steve was trying to stop the blood flow when Bishop Folkman asked if he could give Chandler another blessing. Although the blessing never said Chandler's life would be saved, the bishop promised Chandler his "intellect and sense of humor would be preserved." This gave Steve hope that his son would live. But Chandler's life was still in immediate danger.
Susan and Stephanie, Chandler's mother and younger sister, arrived home about that time. An ambulance came and rushed Chandler—and Steve—to the hospital. Susan paused for a moment after they left, wondering what to do. She knew she needed to be with Chandler, but she also knew Jessica was still on the lake, uninformed and distraught. Jessica didn't know whether her brother was dead or alive.
Susan told Stephanie to call Jessica's Young Women leader, Tami Glauser, who came over to the Balkmans' home and stayed with Jessica until she could join her family at the hospital. "I knew that Jessica would be in good hands," says Susan.
Meanwhile, doctors were trying to save Chandler. When he arrived at the hospital, he had no pulse, had lost 60 to 75 percent of his blood, and was considered dead. But doctors were able to revive and then stabilize him. After several blood transfusions, they began surgery to amputate his leg and treat several broken bones and deep cuts. It was the first night of many Chandler would spend in the hospital, and the first of 30 surgeries.
Members of the Issaquah Fifth Ward rallied around the Balkmans as they had the Jensens. Although the needs of each family were different, the ward quickly responded with thoughtful acts of kindness and support.
People provided meals, cleaned, did laundry, completed yard work, and performed a host of other tasks, Susan remembers. A nurse in the ward helped coordinate Chandler's visiting schedule. More than 100 ward members visited Chandler. Chris Kelly, Chandler's Sunday School teacher and also a doctor, took time to talk with Chandler in depth about a prosthetic leg and to answer his questions. Several families in the ward helped care for Stephanie while her mother spent time at the hospital. Chandler's priest quorum set up a projector and had a movie night in his room for an activity.