Heros? I Sure Think So

Two Tuesdays ago, my brother, Britt, was driving home from work (just outside Saskatoon). He came across two vehicles stopped on the side of the road, where one man was hopping around in his underwear. It took a moment for it to register that this was one of Britt's co-workers. It was then that Britt noticed the vehicle in the slough. Upside down.

Another of Britt's co-workers, Lonnie, had been driving home from work when he swerved to avoid hitting a deer. His rolled his vehicle into a five foot deep slough. Lonnie was known to only place his seat belt over his shoulder so that it appeared he was wearing it. During the rolling, his left arm became twisted in the seat belt. He was able to get most of the way out of his car, but his seat belt trapped him. Two other co-workers, who were travelling behind him, saw him roll and immediately pulled over. Lonnie was calling for their help.

When Britt pulled over, he wasted no time jumping into the slough to help. Some of the other workers were trying to find a knife to cut the seat belt, the others were repeatedly diving under the water in an attempt to un-twist Lonnie's arm. By this point, Lonnie was unconscious. Britt's job was to try and hold Lonnie's head above the freezing water (there was a good inch or two of ice that had already formed on the top of the slough). Britt was attempting to do mouth-to-mouth on Lonnie, but because he needed both his arms to hold Lonnie up, Britt couldn't plug Lonnie's nose to do it effectively.

When Britt jumped into the water, there were only four vehicles stopped on the side of the road. The whole time Britt was holding Lonnie, he was facing away from the highway. After ten minutes in the water, Britt's body began to shut down. He called for someone else to come replace him. Without hesitation, another worker was in the water before Britt had barely finished calling out his request. When Britt turned to climb out of the slough, he was amazed to see nearly 40 vehicles on the side of the road. There were people with blankets and flashlights, doing whatever they could to help.

There was a barb wire fence Britt had to cross to get back to the road, but his body wouldn't let him climb over. Two strangers came and grabbed him and carried him across. A woman came up to him and told him to strip to his underwear before he froze. Britt could barely move. All he could do was hunch over while the two strangers peeled off his bunny hug, shirt and pants. Someone else wrapped him up in a blanket and shoved him into a warm truck. The minutes ticked by and Lonnie was still in the slough. Finally, someone found a knife, cut the belt and Lonnie was pulled out and onto the side of the road.

Despite the workers' efforts, Lonnie did not survive the accident. Britt said he knew Lonnie was gone before he had even started mouth to mouth. As Britt was retelling me his story, he said as tragic as the outcome was, it was heart-warming how everyone...both the co-workers and the passing strangers...worked together to try and save this man's life.

When Britt told our grandma the story, she wanted to phone the newspaper, the tv station and the radio to try and get these men's efforts recognized. Britt said none of the men would want that...even though they did all they could, it still wasn't enough. Lonnie's memorial was held this week in the small town hall of Young. During one part of the ceremony, the co-workers who were there that night were called to the front of the hall. They were each asked to take a beer and then the collectively "cheers-ed" to Lonnie. After that, they stood in a line so every. single. family member could give them a handshake, a hug and a thank you for their efforts. I started getting teary eyed as Britt was telling me this.

For that family, even though Lonnie is gone, I would hope they find comfort in the fact that Lonnie wasn't alone when he died and that his friends did all they could to save his life. And for the co-workers, I think having the family's recognition of their efforts is much more meaningful than having their picture in the paper or a medal from the premier.

But no matter whether they are recognized or not, I think every single one of those men who put their well-being aside that evening is a hero in his own right.