SAN ANTONIO – Sometimes, we need a reminder there are good people in this world.
News 4 WOAI got one last week when we introduced you to an off-duty paramedic who pulled a man from a burning car on Loop 410.
Through the power of television, another Good Samaritan who had also stopped to help saw the story, and so did the driver’s family.
They all met up for an emotional reunion Wednesday afternoon and shared their stories.
Flashback to Saturday, November 17: TransGuide showed Loop 410 gridlocked at McCullough because of a horrible crash. All one family knew: their patriarch was missing.
"My little sister called me at eight o'clock in the morning and said, ‘Dad didn't come home,’” Clarence McFarland said.
That crash victim, Danny McFarland, said he didn’t remember a thing.
"Got in the car and left,” McFarland described his last memory. “Three days later in the hospital, I woke up and realized where I was at."
He said doctors think he had a heart attack, causing him to crash the car.
"Someone was looking out for you,” San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood said.
“I know,” Danny responded.
Actually, two people were looking out for him. They performed CPR on the side of the highway until the ambulance arrived.
Danny finally got to meet them.
"You know this gentleman,” Fire Department spokeswoman Deborah Foster said as Danny met one of the Good Samaritans.
“I do, hello!” Major Monica Law said. She’s a nurse practitioner in the Army National Guard.
“Hi!” Danny said. “I don’t think I know you. You must be the nurse.”
“I breathed for you,” Major Law said. “I breathed for you for about ten minutes.”
“Ma’am, I appreciate it,” Danny thanked her.
“God put me right where I needed to be that day,” Major Law said.
The other Good Samaritan: Andrew Cortez, a paramedic who was off duty that night but stopped to help.
“It’s just what we do. I believe anybody in our department would have done the same thing,” Cortez said.
Like Major Law, Cortez was also in the right place at the right time to save Danny’s life.
"A lot of it comes out of – they always talk about early CPR, bystander CPR,” Cortez said. “It's a big key to survival. This was within a minute."
One minute – for Danny’s family, that’s the difference between spending Thanksgiving with him or planning his funeral.
"Thank you so much,” one relative said as he hugged the Good Samaritans. “You are our heroes, both of y'all.”
