A woman from West Palm Beach, Florida, has a lot to be thankful for after a group of mostly strangers saved her from a medical emergency that could have ended her life.
On May 5, the woman, Laurie Rabyor, had been fasting for a medical procedure and taking medication for high blood pressure. As she was driving in midday traffic in Boynton Beach, she suddenly felt dizzy and tried to pull into a nearby gas station.
“When I started to pull in is when I went out and started to convulse and hit the curb,” she later explained to WPEC-TV. “So no, I didn’t wake up until the next day.”
Thankfully, a co-worker happened to be driving next to her, and when Rabyor’s car started to drift, she immediately knew something was wrong.
The co-worker jumped out of her car and paced Rabyor’s as it slowly drifted into the intersection and into oncoming traffic. The woman waved her arms to get other people’s attention, and soon a group gathered around the car, directing it away from traffic and bringing it to a stop.
The whole rescue was caught on film and has gone viral.
“If you watch any video in your feed today, make it this one,” the Boynton Beach Police Department wrote on Facebook. “A group of Good Samaritans sprang into action on May 5 to help a woman who suffered a medical episode while driving on Woolbright Road.
“Several people got out of their cars and worked together to stop the moving car. One woman grabbed a dumbbell from her car and a man used it to smash the rear passenger’s side window. Another man then climbed through the window to unlock the passenger’s side door. The car was then put in park and the Good Samaritans pushed it to a nearby 7-Eleven parking lot where a nurse who was on the phone with 911 provided medical attention until the fire department arrives.
“We are sharing this video in hopes of learning the identities of all the strangers who came together to save this woman’s life. They are heroes and we want to bring them back together at the police department to recognize them and meet the woman they rescued. We need your help to do this.”
The good Samaritans have been identified by the police department, and a formal thank-you reunion is being planned.
In the meantime, Rabyor is very grateful and expressed her thankfulness while speaking with WPEC.
“Thank you so much,” she said. “I don’t know how to thank you. I wish I was a millionaire so I could buy y’all a boat.
“The comments I’m seeing, people are saying that I brought tears to their eyes. I was so happy to see that the community can come together and people can come together again.”
Laughing, Rabyor added that she “would like to give the lady back her dumbbell too because it was still in my car.”
If the police department’s plans to host a reunion go through, she’ll get her chance.
