When you think about first responders, you might think about someone, such as a fireman, policeman or paramedics. They work long hours and we are all aware that they’re willing to do anything to save a life and to protect others. We don’t typically know who they are when they are not on duty because they look like anybody else. Behind the scenes, however, they are heroes, 24 hours a day.
A good example of this is John O’Rourke, a police officer with the Indiana University Police Department. He was about to get married and on his wedding day, he did something that most people would find a little bit odd but perhaps it was quite normal for him. He had stopped in at the ‘best donut shop’ in the Orlando area, Doughnuts to Go. It was there that he saw something absolutely stunning and he saved the life in the process.
When he got in line at the doughnut shop he noticed that there was an unconscious three-year-old girl there. She must have just had a seizure, and she was already on the floor. He told somebody to call 911 and he spoke with the dispatcher. It was at that point that he began giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions.
When the paramedics arrived, she regained consciousness.
“It had to be a donut shop. You can’t make this up,” said O’Rourke, who normally patrols the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
The little girl was now in the care of the medical professionals and the staff provided O’Rourke with a box of free doughnuts as a way to say thank you. They couldn’t believe that he had just saved that little girl’s life.
It was later that day that he was saying his vows with his wife Virginia in front of family and friends. Many of those individuals were from the Florida Highway Patrol and they said O’Rourke had a habit of being “at the right place at the right time.”
As far as we are concerned, this man is a bona fide hero. We are so thankful that men, such as O’Rourke, are out there to protect us 24 hours a day.