How A Bath Mat Saved My Grampy's Life and Liberty

All I ever tried to do in my life was make my daughter happy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not the type of Mom who gives into her every wish.

But since my childhood could be a little rough sometimes, the second I got pregnant I swore on my daughter's like that I would give her a happy and healthy childhood.

Her father turned out to be the kind of man who would rather make a promise than keep it. And he never met a bottle he couldn't get to the bottom of.

Luckily, even though my family never had much, they always shared love and support with me and Caroline.

When my mom passed a few years ago from heart problems, it hit our whole family hard. She was kind of the matriarch who was always trying to take care of everyone.

Even when she was the one who needed taking care of.

And though it was incredibly difficult to pull myself together after the reality of her death hit me, I've been trying to keep the family together like she did.

I think she would have been proud.

Until it all started falling apart a few months ago.

My mom's father, Grampy Will, had hung in there through so many decades of heartbreak. He had lost his wife, my grandma, about 10 years ago, and then his daughter, my mother, about 5 years after that.

Grampy Will's twilight years were marked by tragedy.

But still, the old man hung in there, and all his grandchildren and their kids loved to gather around and listen to his stories about the old times.

He had lived through so much, he was like a time-traveler to his great-grandchildren!

My daughter, Monique, loved her great-grandfather too. No offense, but I think she's his favorite great-grandchild.

It would always lift Grampy Will's spirits to have his family around him in the house that he and my grandmother built.

Even though he was getting up there in age, he maintained his little house pretty well with some help from the family, and always insisted that he would stay there until the end.

"No old-person's home for me!" he would brag, when he heard another one of his friends had been sent away.

Not that we could really afford one anyway- even the worst ones in our city were so expensive.

Even when he lost his foot to diabetes about a year ago, he kept his cheerful attitude.

"I'm not dead yet!" he would happily yell, when people asked him how he was doing.

Grampy Will was a real firecracker, and an inspiration to anyone who wanted to live a long life, despite the struggles and heartbreaks.

Until it all came crashing down.

Literally.

I got a call from a strange number while I was getting ready for work and Monique was getting ready for school.

I had been looking around for a new job, since I wasn't happy with management at my current one, so I answered.

That call changed my life.

For the bad.

It was the hospital calling to say that Grampy Will had fallen and was laying unconscious in a hospital bed. They were waiting on tests and him waking up to see if he had permanent brain damage.

I immediately called my job and told them I had to take the day off. They were so rude about it, but I knew I had to be there for my grandpa.

When I arrived at his hospital room, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Monique and I had just been to his home for dinner a few nights earlier, and he had looked the same as always.

Now, he was laying in the bed, connected to so many tubes in his arms, wires all over his chest, and an oxygen mask.

And beneath all of that, his skin looked pale and ashy like I had never seen it before, even when he was having the surgery for his foot.

The worst part was a big crust of blood and huge bruise on his forehead above his left eyebrow.

It looked like someone had slammed him in the head with a baseball bat.

"What on earth happened??" I asked, as soon as a nurse came in.

"Your grandfather had a terrible fall in his shower," the nurse said.

"He was lying there all alone and naked, and covered in his own waste, when a neighbor happened to stop by, thank God."

"He had been laying there for 6 hours before his neighbor found him," she said, looking at me with disapproval.

"You better give Mrs. Norris a BIG thank you for saving your grandfather's life," the nurse said, "If he had been laying there too much longer, it probably would have been too late."

I was horrified.

The thought of my poor Grampy Will laying on the bathroom floor alone, scared, hurt, naked, and covered in his own waste for six hours was enough for me to burst into tears immediately.

What on earth was I going to do?

Was Grampy Will going to be okay?

How could I help this wonderful man?

Grampy Will finally woke up toward the end of a long and tiring day or crying and waiting.

He was weak, but he seemed all there, and the doctors were hopeful that there was no permanent brain damage.

I stayed long enough to see him eat a little, then picked up Monique from her friend's house and headed over to Grampy Will's house.

I wanted to make sure everything was cleaned up before he had to come back.

The last thing he needed to deal with was a huge mess when he was trying to recover.

I left Monique with a book in his living room while I headed back to the bathroom.

I was shocked.

It looked like a crime scene.

There was blood and waste everywhere, smeared all over the floor, cabinets, and door.

It looked like he had been scrambling around, trying hard to get up, and just couldn't do it.

I started crying again. This was so awful, I couldn't believe it.

I tried to stay quiet so Monique wouldn't check on me, but I heard her coming back anyway.

"Stay in the living room, baby," I called to her, "I'll be out in a minute."

I took a deep breath even though the air was rancid, and spent the next hour scrubbing away the horrible mess.

By the time I was done, it was cleaner than it had been before.

I pulled back the curtain on the shower, and looked at the tub.

It was clean. I felt the bottom. Not too slippery.

Maybe Grampy Will really was just getting too old to live on his own.

My mind raced. The only option I could think of was to have him move in with us. But the apartment was barely big enough for Monique and I.

Either she would have to share a room with her mom or great-grandfather, or start sleeping in the living room.

That was NOT the kind of life I wanted for her. But I had to take care of my grandfather.

I sighed.

We would cross that bridge when we came to it.

After I was done cleaning, I got Monique and started to lock up. We were both so tired, and poor Monique was hungry too. I had no appetite, but promised her we would stop on the way home.

We were about to get into a car when I heard a voice calling "Excuse me, excuse me!"

I looked up to see an older woman in a housecoat and slippers rushing toward us.

She looked a little crazy, so I quietly told Monique to get into the car. She did as she was told.

"Who are you??" the woman demanded.

"Cathy," I said, surprised. "And you?"

"Mrs. Norris," she said in a huffy voice. "The mister might be gone from this earth but I'll be his wife forever."

"Mrs. Norris!" I said, surprised, "Thank you so much for saving my grandpa!! I cannot tell you how much it means to me to know he has a neighbor like you!"

"Well maybe if he had a family that cared, he wouldn't need a neighbor like me," Mrs. Norris said, frowning and staring at me.

I felt like I had been slapped.

"Of course I care!" I said, shocked, "What do you think I'm doing here now?? And I'm always visiting with him."

"You should have moved him to a home when he lost his foot," she said, shaking her head, "Or hired someone to live with him full-time."

I sighed.

"Grampy Will is never going to an old-person's home, not if he can help it," I told her, "And we can't afford full-time home care. We're not made of money."

"Well you better figure out something," Mrs. Norris said, "Because if something like this happens again, I will call the police on you for elder abuse."

I gasped, and could say nothing as she turned around and stormed off.

I got into my car in a daze.

"Mommy, do I still get McDonald's?" Monique asked.

I jumped at the sound of her voice coming from the back of the dark car.

"Of course, sweetie," I said, and turned the ignition.

It was a long drive home, and the most sleepless night of my life.

The next day, I dropped Monique back off at her friend's house and headed to the hospital.

I couldn't stop my mind from racing around the limited options we had.

And they all seemed bad.

Not the kind of life I wanted to build for my daughter.

I walked into Grampy Will's room, prepared for him to look as horrible as he had the day before.

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to see him sitting up, and cracking jokes with the nurse.

He gave me a big hug when I bent down to him.

"Sorry I scared you, Cathy," he said, looking sad, "It's just a little hard on the prosthetic sometimes. I'll be back on my foot in no time!"

He chuckled at his own joke.

I smiled weakly at him.

"We need to talk about that, Gramps," I said. "Mrs. Norris said she'll call the police if I leave you in danger."

"WHAT?" Grampy Will yelled. I jumped.

He sighed.

"I know Patricia means well, but that is over the line," he said more calmly, closing his eyes.

"I'll be fine," he said, "And I'll talk to her. I've known her for years, I know how to calm her down."

"She didn't seem like a lady who could be calm," I said.

"I don't know what to do, Gramps," I sighed.

"Excuse me?" I heard a man's voice say. Grampy Will and I looked at the doorway to see a new doctor start walking in.

"I'm so sorry, I was having my coffee outside and I heard the two of you talking," he said, "And I wanted to give a little advice if you'd let me"

"Sure!" Grampy Will and I said at the same time.

We were all ears!

"Well I'm an emergency room doctor, and I was here when Mr. Thomas here was admitted," he said.

"And it was indeed a scary sight. Slip-and-falls in the shower claim the lives of thousands of American seniors every year."

"And obviously your grandfather is more at risk because of his prosthetic," the doctor went on.

"But before you try costly or dramatic solutions, I want to recommend a simple, affordable, and effective solution."

"It's called a SteadyMat bath mat."

"The SteadyMat bath mat is probably my favorite product for seniors, and for everyone, really," Dr. Pearson said.

"Slip-and-falls are a real threat to the health of Americans, and the SteadyMat is proven to be effective in showers and baths."

"It's made from a special polysponge fiber that's so strong that our scientists at NASA use it to line space shuttles."

"And truly, everyone can benefit from stability in the shower. Slip-and-falls in the shower are 3 times as deadly as those out of the shower, and no one is totally safe from that."

"Unless you have a SteadyMat bath mat. Plus, it's designed by scientists, doctors and engineers, so I know that it's safe, reliable, and effective."

"The holes in the bottom keep your shower mold and mildew free, and provide your feet-or foot!-with a nice massage while you shower," Dr Pearson finished.

Grampy Will chuckled.

"Okay Doc, thanks for the tip," he said, "We'll look into it."

To me, the SteadyMat bath mat sounded too good to be true, but I promised Grampy Will I would look into it when I got home.

After I put Monique to bed that evening, I looked up the SteadyMat bath mat.

I was AMAZED by what I saw.

There were 7,924 5 star reviews!

Here were a few of my favorites:

When I clicked through to the offer page, I saw there was a money-back guarantee.

So I had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

I lciked the link and ordered two SteadyMats right away.

By some kind of funny fate, the SteadyMats had arrived the same day Grampy Will got released from the hospital.

I was excited but nervous.

I put the SteadyMats in his shower and turned on the water.

Holding on to the edge of the shower, Grampy WIll slowly put one foot in.

And then the other, holding onto the wall with both hands.

I was amazed! He looked so stable!!

He put both feet in, moved around a little, and was so happy and relieved that he actually laughed out loud! The SteadyMat was amazing!!

I left Grampy Will alone to take his shower, and he came out after he got himself dressed again looking like a new man.

He was going to remain independent.

And Monique and I love our SteadyMat too- the massage it gives me after a long day is so nice.

He told me later that he told Mrs. Norris about the SteadyMat too, and now when I visit him she gives me a friendly wave instead of a scowl.

Ever since, I have been telling all my friends and family about the SteadyMat.

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