Angels Among Us

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 4 Jan 2007 | Editorial staff

[Kitten Festival]

Heroism: To leap in front of a 370-ton locomotive to save a stranger in a dank New York subway pit takes a kind of courage we'd all like to think we have but don't. Wesley Autrey showed it Tuesday and elevated us all.

The new year has begun on a high note from Harlem after Autrey, 50, a construction worker on his way to work with his two little daughters, headed into Manhattan's 137th Street-City College station.

Before he got through the turnstile, Autrey spotted a young man thrashing about in a seizure and called for help. But he didn't wait for it to come. He rushed to the side of 18-year-old Cameron Hollopeter, borrowing a pen from another rider and prying open the student's jaws to keep him from swallowing his tongue.

But that was only Autrey's first rescue. As Hollopeter got up, he tumbled onto the subway tracks. That's when Autrey showed what he was really made of. Handing off his girls to another rider, he leapt into the rat-infested pit to rescue the still-flailing teen.

The headlights of an oncoming subway train bore down on them, but there was no time to escape. Facing the monster head on, Autrey dived into icy water under the front of the thundering train, bear-hugging Hollopeter in hope that their best chance lay in a few inches of space beneath the train as at least two cars rumbled over them. Miraculously, they survived.

Where do people like this come from, such angels among us? Although little is known of Autrey beyond the fact of his stupendous rescue, two details stand out.

[Rte66]

You know, I should have said, "buy that man a car" - but I understand they're somewhat of a burden when you live in NYC and have to buy or rent a garage for them.

[Kitten Festival]

I hope they buy him the whole package - car, garage, chauffeur, insurance, registration - for life.

[Rte66]

He's a Navy vet? I missed that, somehow. I should have known! Like the Ultimate Admiral, he was "strong to save." Woo hoo.

[Alberta's Child]

This is a good editorial -- aside from the fact that there are no "locomotives" on the New York City subway system (they are electrified trains that run on third rail power). LOL.

This made the rescue even more remarkable, since Mr. Autrey had to be sure no contact was made (by either himself, or the guy he was rescuing) with that third rail throughout the ordeal as it unfolded.

[TET1968]

That would be like like giving a gift that would cause the recipient to go bankrupt.
Insurance is sky high
Damage to the vehicle is probable
Parking is total Hell
and Garage costs?......don't even ask.
One of the large stock brokerage companies should give this guy the use of a driver and a limo for one year.....the pr alone would be worth it.

[OldFriend]

G-d sent this man to restore our faith in mankind.

No matter how craven and vile people are, we have this shining example of respect for life that surpasses the evil among us.

[EyeGuy]

"Excuse me, got carried away there."

No you didn't. Your words and sentiment were totally apropos.

I love the fact that Investors Business Daily connected this man's stunning heroism with his Christian upbringing and military training.

[sodpoodle]

"Said to be a Navy veteran from Alabama, Autrey's selfless instincts in the face of impending disaster evoke those we usually hear about on the battlefield."

Bring back the draft.

There may not be this level of courage and sacrifice in every young American, but it certainly helps if they are in the company of such heroes.

sp

[SuziQ]

I like the way the writer ended the editorial.

[Rte66]

Yes, definitely a driver and limo. That would be wonderful - and to take the little girls to school, too - if it wouldn't cause problems with the other kids.

They thought for 20 minutes that their father had been killed by the train. That's going to take a while to get over at their ages - once it hits them again, after all this whirlwind.

[Rte66]

P.S. I think he's going to be on Letterman tonight.

[AmericanMade1776]

Wesley Autrey.. God Bless!

[AmericanMade1776]

Look at Wesley Autrey's blue cap, you can see smears caused from the nearness of the train as it passed over

Five cars rolled overhead before the train stopped, the cars passing inches from his head, smudging his blue knit cap with grease. Mr. Autrey heard onlookers’ screams. “We’re O.K. down here,” he yelled, “but I’ve got two daughters up there. Let them know their father’s O.K.” He heard cries of wonder, and applause. http://suitablyflip.blogs.com/suitably_flip/2007/01/wesley_autrey_n.html

[oprahstheantichrist]

However, we don't do the "prevent them from swallowing the tongue" thing anymore."

That's a wives tale, then? What should one do?

[Mad Dawg]

It's not really an old wives' tale. 45 years ago (jeeze, am I THAT old?) it was Red Cross advice. Anyway, here's my old husband's advice:

The argument against forcing open the airway during the seizure, outside of it's not being always necessary, is you can break teeth or even bones. A friend just bit right through the pencil put in her mouth!

If you're confronted with a big old seizure,

• help the patient to the ground if she got hung up on the way down.
• Move stuff she might bump into out of the way.
• If there are binding clothes or necklaces or somesuch loosen or remove. (At least with my daughter, it was clear she was breathing, she was snorting like a grampus - whatever a grampus is. However she could have slightly hyper-ventilated since the noisy respirations were very fast.)

• Between seizure and total recovery some patients are really almost comatose, so you want to position them on the side, with the legs bent and the mouth open so that anything, like pooled saliva, in the mouth can drain, rather than block the airway.
• In fact, it's okay to attempt that during the seizure.

• After the seizure, you've got a little problem: The patient probably knows way more about epilepsy than you do, BUT is confused. (My kid and I called her seizures "reboots" -- it took a while for everything to get back on line).
• You need to assess for injury cause BY the seizure,
• and since some seizures are caused by trauma, you need to assess for especially head injury. A friend had a confused diagnosis, but the best final guess was this: Biing exhausted he had the kind of collapase you have when you get up while holding our breath. He hit the sidewalk and gave himself an earmuff skull fracture (arc right over the top of the skull.) He seized secondary to the blow to the head. Normal EEG, normal everything, hell of a headache. but not allowed to drive, etc. while they ruled out some idiopathic thing.

  In any event,

• After seizure, PT should not drive or operate dangerous stuff. Somebody should stay with the patient for an hour or so.
• Patient should be encouraged to go to ER or his/her physician/neurologist.

How's that for no coffee yet this morning?

[Kitten Festival]

We still don't know if it was epilepsy or not. In any case, Autrey did what he thought was right.

[Mad Dawg]

Oh yeah. But what I wrote is for seizures generally. And I'm not criticizing Autry. I just didn't want that notion to persist. It's dangerous.

[Kitten Festival]

Thanks!