Thanks to all the unnamed people who ran to help me

Last week [in May] I was at Riverside Hospital for a lab test and decided to visit a friend in the hospital when my test was done. I took an elevator to the second floor and decided to use the escalator to go down to the hospital. That was a mistake.

I am in my 80s and when I stepped onto the escalator, I repositioned my foot, lost my balance and fell on my back riding the escalator down for at least two-thirds of the way. My sincere thanks to the 6-8 people who rescued me. A man tried to stop the escalator by pushing the emergency stop button, but I had already reached the bottom.

Two women grabbed my ankles and pulled me off the escalator so it didn’t “chew up” my back as I lay here. Someone ran to the emergency room and brought a tech to put me in a wheelchair.

I had two punched holes in my left ankle, a bruise from my shoulder blade to my waist on my left side and a bruise on my left buttocks. Also a nurse described my bruised areas as having scratches that looked like a Bengal tiger had scratched me. X-rays revealed no broken ones, just a very sore body for over 10 days.

My heartfelt thanks to all of the unnamed people who ran to help me. I could have had some major life-threatening injuries without their fast reactions. I am grateful to the Lord and to them for helping me.

Roy Cordes

Kankakee