Death comes for us all eventually. We can never know exactly when, where, or how. What is known

is that the Grim Reaper is always out there, waiting, checking our names against a list,

like some bill collector on commission.

United States Marine Sergeant Todd Summer had every reason to think his appointment with death was still decades away. After all, he was only 23.

Except sometimes the years don't matter.

As he got ready for bed that night in February 2002, the Reaper was watching.

Todd had been battling some kind of bug for more than a week.

Nausea, diarrhea, stomach pains, chills, fever.

The full menu of misery. The doctors at the Miramar Marine Base in San Diego thought this might be food poisoning. Maybe that gas station egg roll he had

eaten. We do not know how much sleep Todd Summer actually got that night.

We do know that at about 1.30 in the morning, his wife Cindy was awakened by the sound of her husband gasping for breath.

He got up and he walked towards the bathroom and turned around and just looked at me and, like, just couldn't catch his breath.

Years later, the memory of that night is still fresh for Cindy.

I went over to him. I'm like, what's the matter? He just looked at me and he said,

I'm all right, I'm okay, I'm fine. And then he just fell down and I just kind of freaked out.

That is Cindy back in 2002, on the phone to 911.

911.

911, do you have one thing?

What happened?

What happened?

You could class.

Okay, the parent and the waist of me.

...