UNSUNG HEROES
CORNISH WOMAN THANKS CABBIES AFTER FALL BY TAXI RANK IN HELSTON
A Helston woman who slipped outside the taxi rank in Coinagehall Street causing significant head injuries has thanked those who supported and looked after her in the aftermath. The Falmouth Packet reports that Jean Kearney 72, had been out for dinner and was helping her friend into a taxi, when she slipped, banging her head in the process. Consequently, Jean suffered a broken vein in the head and as well as bleeding. Once she had fallen, Jean was supported by A2B taxi driver Steve
Bradley and Cabs4U driver Jim Spratt. Jim phoned the ambulance, and applied pressure to Jean’s head to ease the bleeding before the ambulance
arrived. The ambulance arrived 30 - 45 minutes later, and she was then taken to hospital where she received glue and stitches to her head. Jean and her family thanked Jim and Steve for their support, they said: “If it wasn’t for Jim applying pressure, it could have been a lot worse,” Thanks was also given to the the ambu- lance crew, and first responder Tony, who happened to be Jean’s son-in-law as well as the Blue Anchor Staff for looking after Jean’s friend, Paul the policeman and others who helped Jean.
HERO CABBIE WHO TALKED MAN DOWN FROM BRIDGE OVER BELFAST MOTORWAY ACTED ON ‘GUT INSTINCT’
A hero cabbie has talked a man down from a bridge over a busy Belfast motorway. Stefan, a driver with Belfast- based company fonaCAB had a “gut feeling” when he saw a young man who was rocking back and forth on the edge of a bridge overlooking the road. He had just picked up a number of cus- tomers from the city centre shortly after midday who were on their way to a wedding in Broughshane. Stefan told the Belfast Telegraph that as they were driving past Belfast Metropolitan College’s Millfield cam- pus, he looked over towards a slip road off Divis Street that led to the Westlink. He saw a young man in his 20s who looked distressed on top of the wall adjacent to the slip road. Stefan said: “My first vision was just ‘this guy’s going to jump here’ so I immediately put the brakes on, pulled the car over, made sure the customers in the taxi were OK, and my gut instinct just made me run right over to him. I saw him rocking and he was about to go so I grabbed the back of his jacket and thought, well if he goes he’s taking me too. There was a lorry driver who
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had also stopped just beneath him. “He obviously saw he was going to jump and thought he would stop under- neath and maybe it would break his fall. He knew it could have been fatal. “I kept asking the wee fella what happened, and kept talking to him when he was rocking. He said he’d lost his dad and I told him it’s OK and at about the fifth or sixth rock I just scooped my hands around his stomach and lifted him off in a big bear hug. “It was a very brief two or three minutes but it felt like a lifetime.” The driver, from Bangor, said that he was filled with so much adrenaline dur- ing the ordeal. “I am still full of adrenaline even hours later,” he said. “In those situations it’s either fight or flight - I did both - my fight was to fight for his life and the flight was lifting him straight off. I didn’t think twice.” Stefan said that the young man was still very distressed when he was lifted off and, by this stage, two mental health nurses who saw the situation unfold, had arrived on the scene. “They were trying to talk to him and
offered to take him to hospital, but he kept banging his head off the wall, so I put my hand behind his head. Yes, he was hurting my hand but at least he wasn’t hurting himself,” he said. “I said to him he got his nine lives back today and really I just hope he’s OK. “I hope that what I did has stopped a mother from burying her son today. Maybe he had brothers and sisters too, you never know how many people this could have affected so I am just hoping that this moment has helped a little.” An eyewitness who saw the incident unfold has said that the taxi driver should be praised for saving a life. “I just think that taxi drivers get a lot of criticism, but here is one who saved someone’s life,” they said. “He should be praised for what he did.” A fonaCAB spokesman said: “We are very proud of Stefan’s actions today and we hope the young man who Ste- fan helped receives the help he needs . “We were delighted to hear from Stefan’s customers today as well, who were so impacted by what he did that they sent in their compliments on his bravery.”
JULY 2022
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