In a heartwarming tale of gratitude and fate, a nurse has been determined throughout the years to find the firefighter who saved her life when she was 4 years old. Even though she was unable to find his contact information, that did not stop their paths from crossing.
Kelly Clarkson had Deirdre on her talk show to discuss the fire she was trapped in at the age of 4, and how she crossed paths with her rescuer 36 years later. When Deirdre starts to explain what happened to her when she was little, she admits that she can’t remember too much because of how young she was when it happened.
Deirdre says: “So, I don’t remember all the details from that day, but I do know that it was a really cold day in late December and the fire had broken out in our loft. And there was a man from our building who was able to run outside looking for help, and much to our luck, there was a fire truck just parked down the street.”
The man from Deirdre’s building was able to get one of the firefighters from the truck, and that was Gene. Since the firefighters were only down the street checking and fixing broken water pipes, they didn’t have their gear with them.
That didn’t stop Gene. He grabbed his axe and his helmet and ran down the street and up to the sixth floor. He got Deirdre’s mother first and then went back to get her. By the time he did, she was unconscious and not breathing. Gene gave her two quick breaths and once she woke up, he ran her down the street and got her on a respirator.
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Deirdre became a nurse, and when the outbreak of COVID happened in New York, she took a travel nursing assignment to go help. She worked at NYU Langone in Brooklyn for eight weeks.
While working there, Deirdre shared her story with some firefighters who brought the nurses pizza, and one of the firefighters knew that the captain would have Gene’s contact information.
Deirdre called the captain of the fire station who confirmed that he knew who Gene was. Forty minutes later, Gene called Deirdre and she finally got to thank him for rescuing her.
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