I remember the night I watched you save a man’s life. We’d been on a date and had a few minutes before I had to be home, so we rode to Midway to get a soda. There, a man had stopped to use the phone booth and had a heart attack. You ran over to the man on the ground, then tried to get a response. “Are you all right? Are you hurting?” , then to me, “Call an ambulance, there’s no pulse!” As I ran to the phone booth, I saw you hit the man in his chest with your fist. You performed CPR on the man while I frantically called the operator. After I dialed ‘O’, I saw you breathing into his mouth and doing the chest compressions. I asked the operator to dispatch both Edenton and Windsor rescue for help, since I thought it was a life-or-death situation. That was one of the longest ten minutes I’ve ever experienced. I prayed as I watched you that he’d be OK.

Finally, the ambulance from Chowan County arrived. As the EMTs took over, someone asked about your qualifications (volunteer fireman with EMT and CPR training) and commented that the man was lucky that you’d been there. About that time, Bertie County Rescue arrived, but it was decided to take the man to Edenton.

You took me home, and went to check on your patient that night or the next morning.

The gentleman recovered with a ‘sore chest’, thanks to you!

You’re still a hero. Thank you for your service.