Ron Christiansen was in a bad way when off-duty volunteer firefighter Ted Post stumbled upon him on Feb. 11.
Post, who volunteers for East Gorham Fire and Rescue, was dropping his newly adopted daughter Lexi off at daycare when he noticed a vehicle stuck in a neighbour’s unpaved driveway.
Though he didn’t stop the first time he passed by, after picking up his daughter he noticed on his way home the car was still there.
This time the car door was open and, acting on his gut, he stopped to check things out.
It turns out Christiansen, who had stopped to say hello to a friend, had gotten stuck in the mud and snow, and in the process of trying to get his car out, he’d suffered a heart attack.
“There was always this little tingle in the back of my head that said there’s something not quite right about this situation,” said Post, who on Wednesday was honoured for saving Christiansen’s life at a ceremony held at Thunder Bay’s Polish Legion.
“That’s when I realized there was a problem because there were no footprints in the yard to get in there, so obviously he’d been in there all night.”
Christiansen, a local artist of some renown, had suffered a heart attack.
Post’s first reaction was to run home to get his wife to phone 911.
“He was in very poor condition. That’s when I recognized that he needed immediate care,” Post said.
“You could tell. He was hardly talking and was saying, ‘Boy, I’m glad to see you.’ That was all I could make out and I said just stay right here, help will be on its way.”
His wife, a first responder too, brought blankets and comforted Christiansen until emergency crews arrived on scene.
Christiansen, who chose to stay out of Wednesday’s spotlight, nonetheless thanked the Posts for their action that night, and presented them with a token of his appreciation, a colorful limited edition print he painted more than two decades ago.
“You saved my butt,” he said.
And appreciative Post said none of the commendations really mattered.
“The greatest reward is knowing he’s still here with us and knowing if we hadn’t have found him he may have succumbed to his injuries.”
