Hero

I read an amazing story in this morning's NY Times (and Toronto's Globe and Mail as well) about a true New York City hero. A 50 year old man was standing on the platform of the downtown 1 train at 137th st (a stop I rode past every day for many years on my way to Jr. High School), waiting with his 2 young daughters, when he saw a nearby 20 year old man start convulsing. The young man started having a seizure and fell to the ground and then rolled off the platform onto the train tracks. Of course, just as he fell, the 50 year old man noticed the lights of the oncoming train turning the corner. He reacted quickly, jumping off the platform onto tracks, positioning the man in the little rut between the two tracks and holding him down so that the train passed over them. Apparently it was just inches from his head, as the rut is only one foot deep. They cut power to the trains and then got the two men out of there. Amazing! The young man was taken to St. Lukes Hospital (one of my mom's former hospitals) and the other guy resumed his day, taking his daughter home and then going to his evening construction job. What a story.