Past tragedies have a way of shaping the person we become. For one off-duty nurse, when she spotted an overturned truck, she knew what she had to do. After all, it was the bystanders who helped her during the car crash that killed both her parents.
Back then, Leigh Ann Sondrup said, she got comfort from the people that rushed to her side. “Even the boy who caused the crash ran over and tried to help. For that, I’ll always have a sweet spot in my heart for him,” she said. So when the Arizona woman spotted an overturned cement truck, she stopped.
She had just gotten off work from her job as an emergency room nurse. “I was just really tired,” Sondrup said. “I had been – I think I was on four nights in a row at that point.” But she knew she had to help. “Divine intervention,” Sondrup said.
An aerial view of the overturned cement truck. Photo from YouTube
“All of a sudden, there were no cars coming. I could cross over. There were a couple of men there coming home from work as well,” she said. She saw immediately that he was bleeding out. The man inside was badly hurt. “He told me, ‘I’m going to die,'” she said.
And I said, ‘No, you’re not. Not today. You’re not going to die today,'” Sondrup said.
“There were some other bystanders and men that were there. I called out for a belt. Somebody got me a belt and I applied the belt as a rough tourniquet,” Sondrup said. First responders arrived and took the man to a nearby hospital, where he was in stable condition.
For her heroic actions, Sondrup was given a Lifesaving Award from the Phoenix Fire Department. “It’s important for us to recognize the amazing work that Leigh Ann did,” Rob McDade, captain of Phoenix Fire, said. “Getting off shift, stepping up, catastrophic emergency right in front of her, and she really affected the outcome of this person’s survivability.”
But for Sondrup, her arrival on the scene was all due to a higher power. “I do believe that my heavenly father does direct my path,” she said. “I’m far from perfect, but I do feel that at that particular moment, he gave me a lot of forewarning.”
Leigh Ann Sondrup was presented a Lifesaving Award from Phoenix Fire for rushing to the aid of a man who was trapped under an overturned cement truck on her way home from work. Photo by FOX 10 Phoenix
A week after the accident, she was able to visit the man in the hospital. “He said to me ‘I don’t know why I’m still here,'” Sondrup said. He thanked her for having helped save his life that day.
I wish him the best,” Sondrup said. “He will have good healing and much success going forward.”
She wants others to know that anyone can help if they see an accident. “There’s a Stop The Bleed class that’s available that can help save lives,” Sondrup said. The program teaches students how to properly apply a tourniquet, alongside other lifesaving first aid skills. “I didn’t have a fancy tourniquet,” Sondrup said. “I used a belt. These are all things that anyone can learn to do” Watch below to see this hero get her lifesaving award!
Sources: 12 News | The Messenger
