Post by Parador~J on Apr 20, 2007 10:38:10 GMT -5
Post submitted by Lara in TWTF thread....
Canadian Press
WINNIPEG— Lying motionless on train tracks, unable to move, and seeing a freight train heading straight toward her, 89-year-old Winifred Lindsay was certain she was about to die.
The Winnipeg woman felt she had lived a full life and so she thought only of others.
"All I could think about was the engineer in the train," she recalled yesterday. "I could hear the brakes and hear him trying to stop and I thought, how terrible for him."
Ms. Lindsay's survival is being called a sign that good Samaritans are alive and well.Her ordeal started with what was supposed to be an ordinary Tuesday afternoon trip to a medical clinic on the small electric scooter she uses to get around. While crossing train tracks, one of the scooter's wheels became stuck in a rut. The machine toppled over, pinning Ms. Lindsay underneath.
It was then that she looked up in horror and noticed a train approaching.
"I tried to wave to people in the cars going by, but they were busy with the traffic and nobody saw me.
"Then I heard the horn from the train, and the [train crossing] bars came down, and as the train was almost on me, I thought, 'Well, this is a very sad sight.' "
Suddenly, she felt arms around her, trying to pull her to safety. Still, she was convinced it was too late.
"I could see my feet and I thought, 'They're not going to make it,' because the wheels of the train were there. So I put every effort I could into pulling them back. They were . . . three or four inches [from the wheel]."
The arms that dragged Ms. Lindsay to safety belong to Deborah Chiborak, a 52-year-old restaurant owner who was driving her mother to the same medical clinic when she saw Ms. Lindsay's scooter topple.
"It was fast. It was just so fast. I just knew I had seconds to grab [Ms. Lindsay] and pull," she said.
Ms. Chiborak left as others came to Ms. Lindsay's aide and before the senior who had just escaped a gruesome death could thank her guardian angel.
The two women met yesterday, hugging and smiling, in front of a throng of reporters and cameras.
Ms. Chiborak was uncomfortable being called a hero, saying she simply followed her instincts.
"Life is precious, and you do what you need to do."
On top of her overwhelming gratitude, the spry, thoughtful Ms. Lindsay feels a sense of duty to pay the good deed forward.
"How am I ever going to make the rest of my life be of such worth that this noble deed is worthwhile?" she asked. "I think something more is expected of me."
Ms. Lindsay has already put in a lifetime of work and achievements.
She graduated from university with a physics degree and tested plywood for use in Allied planes during the Second World War.
She met her husband after the war and would also go on to teach college students and work for the Manitoba government, managing programs in nursing homes.
She has seven children, 21 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Canadian Press
WINNIPEG— Lying motionless on train tracks, unable to move, and seeing a freight train heading straight toward her, 89-year-old Winifred Lindsay was certain she was about to die.
The Winnipeg woman felt she had lived a full life and so she thought only of others.
"All I could think about was the engineer in the train," she recalled yesterday. "I could hear the brakes and hear him trying to stop and I thought, how terrible for him."
Ms. Lindsay's survival is being called a sign that good Samaritans are alive and well.Her ordeal started with what was supposed to be an ordinary Tuesday afternoon trip to a medical clinic on the small electric scooter she uses to get around. While crossing train tracks, one of the scooter's wheels became stuck in a rut. The machine toppled over, pinning Ms. Lindsay underneath.
It was then that she looked up in horror and noticed a train approaching.
"I tried to wave to people in the cars going by, but they were busy with the traffic and nobody saw me.
"Then I heard the horn from the train, and the [train crossing] bars came down, and as the train was almost on me, I thought, 'Well, this is a very sad sight.' "
Suddenly, she felt arms around her, trying to pull her to safety. Still, she was convinced it was too late.
"I could see my feet and I thought, 'They're not going to make it,' because the wheels of the train were there. So I put every effort I could into pulling them back. They were . . . three or four inches [from the wheel]."
The arms that dragged Ms. Lindsay to safety belong to Deborah Chiborak, a 52-year-old restaurant owner who was driving her mother to the same medical clinic when she saw Ms. Lindsay's scooter topple.
"It was fast. It was just so fast. I just knew I had seconds to grab [Ms. Lindsay] and pull," she said.
Ms. Chiborak left as others came to Ms. Lindsay's aide and before the senior who had just escaped a gruesome death could thank her guardian angel.
The two women met yesterday, hugging and smiling, in front of a throng of reporters and cameras.
Ms. Chiborak was uncomfortable being called a hero, saying she simply followed her instincts.
"Life is precious, and you do what you need to do."
On top of her overwhelming gratitude, the spry, thoughtful Ms. Lindsay feels a sense of duty to pay the good deed forward.
"How am I ever going to make the rest of my life be of such worth that this noble deed is worthwhile?" she asked. "I think something more is expected of me."
Ms. Lindsay has already put in a lifetime of work and achievements.
She graduated from university with a physics degree and tested plywood for use in Allied planes during the Second World War.
She met her husband after the war and would also go on to teach college students and work for the Manitoba government, managing programs in nursing homes.
She has seven children, 21 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.