I May Have Saved Someone's Life Today!

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Well today was pretty crazy. I'm in sales and was calling on one of my accounts in a rural area of my territory. Just like the rest of the nation it was a super hot day. My thermometer in my car registered 102 as the outside temp. I walked past a guy in a navy blue mini van with handicapped tags parked against the curb and saw him nodding his head and kinda jerking around but assumed that was his handicap and didn't think much of it. I went into the office and they were closed for lunch so I waited in their waiting room for awhile and played a few games of Free Cell on my laptop while "pre-call planning" :mrgreen:

After seeing my client I went out to my car to get a few supplies and the guy was still in his van, but not moving as much so I figured he was napping while waiting on someone. I dropped off my supplies to my client, went back to my car, put away my demo stuff and almost got in my car but didn't. Something told me to go check out the guy in the van. First thing I noticed was his van wasn't running. So neither was his air conditioning. When I put my face up to his side window and looked in, his head was tilted back, his mouth was gaped open, and his eyes were rolled back in his head. I banged on the window, got nothing, and yanked open his door. It was hot as an oven in there. He was dying, no question in my mind.

He was totally unresponsive. I opened up the sliding door behind him to let more heat out, ran inside the office to get them to call 911, ran back out, found his keys on the floor board, fired up his car to run the AC, and tried to wake him up. When he would briefly return to consciousness he was falling all over the drivers seat and soaked in sweat. Turns out he had been in the same office I went in, but he was there before they closed for lunch. It was 1:40pm when we called 911, so he sat in that burning hot car for at least an hour and forty minutes. I got an ice bag from the office and a cold rag, and we put them behind his neck and layed his seat back. Then all we could do was wait for rescue to arrive.

Once fire and rescue came and pulled him out of the van and into their vehicle I went about my day. I hope he made it but have my doubts by the way he looked when they put him on the stretcher. I went on a few more sales calls but I didn't sell a thing! I sure hope that old guy made it. And now I sure wish I would have paid more attention the first time I walked past his car instead of the third time. Anyway, none of us even know who he is but I bet he could benefit from running him across your beads a few times! :wink: Peace.
 
HEY YOU DID YOU'RE GOODWILL FOR THE DAY , WHO KNOW'S HOW MANY PEOPLE WALK BY HIS VAN BEFORE YOU DID AND DID NOTHING TO HELP HIM . SO I ALSO DO AGRED YOU ARE HIS ANGEL :wink:

HOPE EVRETHING WHEN WELL FOR HIM :!:
 
Hey guys, thanks for the replies. Sorry I wrote a novel earlier. When I got home my adrenaline was all pumped up about it and I had to tell someone. I didn't see anything on the news tonight regarding a heat related death so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for this guy. As far as being an angel, the poor old guy must have been a pretty bad character for me to be his angel! Anyway, I appreciate your kind words. I just did what I'm sure most of you would do. Unfortunately, I know for a fact that at least 6 people came in the office after me who had to have walked right past him too. I'm just thankful I paid closer attention on my way out. I googled the estimated inside temp of a dark car on black pavement on a sunny day when it's over 100*F outside and came up with anywhere between 120*F and 140*F. Even for a healthy guy, an hour and forty minutes of that would be rough. I'm still holding out hope for the dude. Will let you know. Pudge
 
rico said:
HEY YOU DID YOU'RE GOODWILL FOR THE DAY , WHO KNOW'S HOW MANY PEOPLE WALK BY HIS VAN BEFORE YOU DID AND DID NOTHING TO HELP HIM . SO I ALSO DO AGRED YOU ARE HIS ANGEL :wink:

HOPE EVRETHING WHEN WELL FOR HIM :!:
Good Job :wink: I also agree you are his angel.
 
Good on ya for calling 911 and cooling him off.

The jerking around with his head back may have been a seizure. When the brain warms up too fast, usually from a fever, it short circuits. The eyes in the back of the head, and unresponsiveness make me worried that his brain got really hot. It can start cooking.

But, he regained consciousness when you started cooling him off. I say he'll do just fine with some A/C and fluids. The issue is whether any subtle damage was done. Something along the lines of a TIA, or 'mini stroke.' If you didn't call 911, and nobody found him until 5:00, the story would be a lot different.

Glad you stepped in.
 
Great news! Guy survived and is doing fine! Isn't that awesome!?!? I couldn't get too many details because of the HIPAA guidelines but apparently he's a diabetic and had some sort of acute diabetic episode that spiralled terribly downward until the point where I found him unconscious an hour and forty minutes later. It sure would be cool to actually see him somewhere. Who knows, maybe it'll happen. I'm certain I'd recognize him. He's an amputee and the upper part of the fiberglass mold on his prosthetic where his thigh goes into it was all peace signs in multi colors! And even if I don't ever see him again, just knowing that he's alive is really pretty cool. Okay, I gotta go, my wife is joking me for typing with a smile on my face!!! Peace!
 
Well done! I hereby present you with this digital Life Saving Medal. (The Albert Medal for Lifesaving from the UK.) :D Gary
albert20medal.jpg
 
Thanks Gary! Below is as close to a digital image as I could find of me accepting the medal from you! I'm humbled! :mrgreen:
ForrestGumpGettingMedal.jpg
 
This made my day. Great job be alert and doing the right thing.

I hope karma comes full circle for you and find a nice old bike in a barn.
 
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