Edwards, her husband, Andrew, and their 9- and 13-year-old sons on the afternoon of Aug. 14 never imaged that a trip for ice cream would end up with local residents coming to her family's aid.

Around 4:15 p.m. her youngest son, Jeremy, stopped his bicycle on Newport Avenue to wait for his older brother, Greg, who was still across the street. Andrew was already on Minnesota Avenue at the intersection near Newport Avenue by the United Methodist Church and didn't see that Jeremy had stopped in front of him.

Andrew ran into Jeremy and landed on the sidewalk near the church with his feet still in the bicycle's toe clips.

"I immediately knew he was in trouble when I heard a primal scream," Catherine said. She added that her husband ripped his cell phone from his side and handed it to her, but the phone was smashed and broken. Telling Jeremy to stay with his father, Catherine ran across the street to the closest home to ask if she could use the phone.

Rebecca Morgan was in her front yard redoing her landscaping when Catherine came running up. After dialing 911, the dispatchers asked Catherine to wait on the line, but she handed the phone to Morgan so she could return to her husband's side.

"I think I was just being neighborly," Morgan said.

When Catherine Edwards rejoined her husband and two sons, Willow Glen resident Doug Artman had already stopped his truck on Minnesota Avenue and gotten out to help.

"A man was laying in the curb with a mangled bike and two sons looking distraught and not sure what to do," he said. "There wasn't a thought process. It was instinct, I stopped to do whatever I could."

From his truck, Artman said Andrew's injury did not look serious at first except for a bleeding elbow, but as he approached, "I could tell he was in obvious pain," Artman said. "He indicated his ribs hurt and was struggling to breathe."

Ironically, Artman had just purchased a new bicycle for his 5-year-old daughter and he was returning to his home on Iris Court with his children.

After the police, fire and ambulance arrived, it took 30 to 45 minutes to get Andrew on the stretcher and into the emergency vehicle.

"Doug didn't get in the way, but he stayed when he didn't have to," Catherine said. Because Artman had a truck, Catherine asked if he could take her, her sons and the bicycles back to their home two miles away on Shibley Avenue. Artman didn't hesitate to help.

"They had enough to worry about," he said. "I wanted to make it as easy as possible."

Catherine said Willow Glen is the kind of community where any neighbor would have brought her family home, but the fact that Artman waited 45 minutes and had a truck was "miraculous."

Artman said he doesn't think he did anything heroic and said, "You feel something tug at your heart when you see something like that happen."

At Valley Medical Center, Andrew was rushed through the emergency area because of trauma. And to help ease the ordeal, Catherine and her boys were met by Stone Church pastor Art Mills, who came as soon as he heard the news.

"It was very scary for my sons to see their father so helpless, unable to talk and breathe," Catherine said. "Art went in with one of my sons and provided spiritual comfort."

Andrew was released from the hospital the next day with three broken ribs and a punctured lung. He will recuperate at home for four weeks before returning to work.

Families from Stone Church have been providing meals and cards, Catherine said.

Although Catherine hasn't seen Artman to thank him in person, she hopes he hears how much her family appreciated his help.

Artman said his family is glad to be living in a place that has a small town atmosphere like the one he grew up in the Midwest.

"That's a lot about what Willow Glen is," he said. "Being community-oriented in a pocket of insanity."