Frank’s brother, Oscar who has an amazing story of survival.
harvey oscar helsabeck (brother) 1-3-1924~ Oscar ACCIDENTALLY swallowed a glass bead from a necklace while playing with his older brothers. the bead lodged at the base of the trachea. His mother ran to the neighbor’s house to get someone to take Oscar to the Lawrence Hospital in Winston-Salem. At the time, his father was working in the city and met them at the hospital. unfortunately, the hospital had no x-ray equipment to be able to see the bead so that they could remove it. the nearest hospital that had the equipment to x-ray his throat was the Jefferson Hospital in philadelphia. he and his father took the long train ride to philadelphia arriving late Sunday evening only to be told that the surgery would have to wait until the morning because they did not perform surgery on sundays. his frantic father begged the doctors to remove the bead or his son would surely die due to lack of oxygen before morning. finally, the doctors agreed to operate. it took the skilled doctors only a little more THAN 2 minutes to remove the bead. they used no ANESTHESIA. oscar’s vocal cords were damaged from the removal of the bead and suffered a significant amount of brain damage from periods of no oxygen. on the train ride to philadelphia, the bead would turn sideways making it impossible for oscar to breathe. his face would turn blue and his father would turn him upside down until the bead turned enough for oscar to be able to breathe again. oscar never learned to read or write but he was able to earn enough money to buy a bottle of pop by helping neighbors in their tobacco fields. If you ever saw oscar out and about with his brother frank, he would have on bibed overalls with a chew of tobacco in the front pocket and a smile on his face. Oscar was a happy soul, he loved everyone UNCONDITIONALLY and was always smiling.
Greensboro news and record article from june 7, 2006
Fond Memories
I was reminded of how many lives that Uncle Frank touched and was encouraged when I had a visit from someone who had been at the house 10 years ago and wanted to see it again. Afterwards, he sent me a picture from his visit and this email: "Here's the photo from my visit to Frank's house. Thank you so much for allowing us to come in and see it today. It will always be a fun memory. I hope everything works out because no one that I know in our community wants to see something happen to Frank's house"
