Cpl. Douglas Morgan said he didn't think, he just acted. And a 樱桃视频resident may be alive today thanks to the soldier's good deed.
On Sunday (July 17), Morgan was in 樱桃视频visiting his mother when he went for a run down Government Road in training for an upcoming Military Mountain Man race. He wore a backpack full of bricks and was focused on his task, he said, but as soon as he saw a middle aged man stumbling along and then falling in the middle of the street 50 metres south of the Brackendale General Store, he stopped to help.
Dozens of cars were out that early evening and when the drivers came upon the man, they merely drove around him and went on by.
"He was obviously in distress," said Morgan. "As a human being, I can't just run by him."
The man was lying in shadow, and Morgan said he was concerned that a driver might not see him in time to detour around him. Morgan approached the man, knelt down and asked if he could help.
The man had no odour of alcohol, said Morgan, and after talking several minutes, the man was able to tell Morgan that he was having a diabetes-related episode. "He said he'd been walking around for four hours, and nobody helped," said Morgan.
Morgan signaled to a passer-by to help by calling the police. The pedestrian helped, said Morgan, but kept his distance. Morgan, in the meantime learned the man's name was Vladimir and he was taking a Sunday stroll when he became disoriented.
Vladimir drank down half of Morgan's water and began to behave a little more lucidly, said Morgan. Then an RCMP officer arrived to take him to hospital.
"He thanked me, we shook hands," said Morgan, who shortly thereafter went back to Alberta. "Last I saw him he was waving to me out of the back of the car."
Morgan's mother, Heather McMullen, said she's very proud, but not surprised by her son's actions."He says 'I'm a soldier, I'm supposed to help,'" she said.
Morgan spent six months in Bosnia two years ago and is preparing for a nine-month tour beginning in Feb. of an area in Afghanistan known to hold a high military casualty rate, according to McMullen.
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