Doug's Act of Heroism

On the second day of our four day drive from Washington to Illinois we came upon an accident that had just happened. Doug and I were talking on the phone driving separate cars and I was in the lead when I saw a car that was badly banged up. Glass was covering both lanes and as I passed the car I could see someone in there. I initially thought there were two people, but Doug quickly learned that there was only one person. I was a bit confused because the car was obviously in a single-car accident, but there was also another car behind that car that was just sitting there. As soon as I told Doug there was an accident and he saw for himself what had happened he told me to pull over and call 911. He jumped out and when I looked in my rear view mirror I saw flames coming out of the hood of the car. I quickly realized that Doug was putting himself in danger to try and save this person's life and I panicked for a second thinking that the car could blow up while he was trying to help. Then, I realized that there was nothing I could do except pray, so I turned to the kids in the car and told them we needed to pray. They immediately folded their hands and closed their eyes and I prayed for Doug's safety, the person that was stuck in the car and that Doug would get the help he needed to get this person out. Other cars stopped as they came upon the accident and my view of what was taking place was beginning to be obstructed. From what I could see there were people standing around, but no one seemed to be helping Doug. Then, I saw the person being carried and laid on the ground. At that point the flames were getting bigger and bigger and the car was completely on fire when the paramedics arrived. A person walking back to their car told me that three guys somehow pulled the door open. I knew that one of those three guys was my husband. After the paramedics left Doug walked over to us and I could tell something was wrong because of the way he was holding his hands and moving his arms. I realized once he got to me that it was because he had blood all over his hands. He told me that there were two guys that came from the other side of the median to help him. They somehow pried the door open and Doug pulled the lady from the car. He said he could see the dashboard starting to bubble from the heat and it was only minutes from being too late. After everything started to sink in, Doug called the state trooper for more information. He learned the first 911 call, which was not mine, was only 7 minutes before trooper arrived. In that short 7 minutes, we pulled over from the freeway, Doug rescued the women from the car and the entire car was engulfed in flames according to the trooper. Also, the lady in the car was a 72 year old women who had 8 children, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was on her way to the airport to go see her newest great-grandchild. She had fallen asleep at the wheel, hit the median, jerked the car back to the road and flipped it from front to back. She had no broken bones and was able to leave the hospital within days after it happen. Doug had a chance to talk to her son and he was pretty emotional about the whole thing. He told Doug he had no idea who he saved and that she is one of those people who has a bigger than life personality. The next few days of our drive was consumed with thoughts about what had happen. Doug was amazed that he was put in that place at that time for that event. The odds of having us being the first ones on the scene of that accident was definitely an act of God. Also, we never found out what happen with the other car we saw when we pulled up. Our guess is that he was in shock because he saw what happen and was unable to respond.