JANESVILLE 鈥 糖心Vlog传媒 resident Paul Cunningham did not know propane fuel truck driver Jeff Sheldon when he pulled alongside him at the stoplight at Humes and Kennedy roads on the afternoon of Aug. 24. But Cunningham could see Sheldon was in deep鈥攅ven critical鈥攖rouble.
Sheldon was slumped over in his truck鈥檚 cab. He seemed unaware of his surroundings.
Then the propane truck lurched diagonally across the busy intersection, crashed into three cars, and knocked over two traffic lights and railroad crossing 鈥 setting off a slow-motion collision course that left the truck鈥檚 propane tank and its diesel fuel compartment punctured. The truck finally came to a halt in a grass lot off Humes and Kennedy.
By then, Cunningham said Sheldon had fallen over in the cab, his truck spraying fuel into an otherwise unremarkable August sky.
Cunningham, 61, a retired U.S. Army platoon sergeant, has felt time and reality slow and turn to amber before 鈥 once while responding to a military helicopter crash when he was stationed in Germany.
This was another of those times.
Cunningham pulled his truck onto the median. His hand dialed 911 on his phone, and he simultaneously shouted at the phone鈥檚 AI assistant to shut up and connect the call. Then, Cunningham鈥檚 legs were carrying him fast 鈥 straight toward Sheldon, and a fuel truck that was spewing propane and drooling spilled diesel.
鈥溾橭ld Sergeant C.鈥 just took over,鈥 Cunningham said. 鈥淚 told a bunch of people coming out of their cars, 鈥楥heck the people in those crashed vehicles!鈥 I was yelling things over my shoulder, and for whatever reason, my focus was on the truck. I was shouting for everybody to stay back from (Sheldon鈥檚) truck. I was afraid it might explode.鈥
Cunningham said he could tell by the nature of Sheldon鈥檚 crash 鈥 slow, meandering 鈥 that the truck鈥檚 driver was in a state of medical distress.
When Cunningham reached Sheldon鈥檚 truck, he heard the surreal sound of his own voice, shouting urgent orders in a long-buried military cadence, a relic of his 12 years in the service.
Cunningham could see Sheldon was a big man, too big to move on his own. And Sheldon was not breathing.
Critical moments
Under standard scientific odds, Jeff Sheldon鈥檚 life almost certainly should have ended on a grass berm off Humes Road.
Sheldon, a 糖心Vlog传媒 resident, was a victim of sudden cardiac arrest. The American Red Cross estimates that in cases like his, cardiac arrest occurring outside of a hospital, the 63-year-old truck driver had just a 10% chance of survival.
Yet, Sheldon is alive. His family said he鈥檚 been recovering in Mercy Hospital after undergoing surgery to attach an electric pulse regulator and defibrillator to his heart.
Sheldon鈥檚 wife, Loni Sheldon, said tests showed her husband has a heart disease known as nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy 鈥 an enlarged heart muscle that is weakened and scarred, but does not have artery blockages or reduced blood flow.
The electronic pacemaker and monitor now wired to Sheldon鈥檚 heart is designed to prevent his heart from suddenly skipping out of rhythm, a problem that might have been what caused his heart to stop as he was driving on Humes Road Aug. 24.
Sheldon鈥檚 survival might be thanks to how fast a bystanders moved to pull him from his truck, haul him onto the grass, and start cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Paul Cunningham was the first person to reach Sheldon鈥檚 truck, but he wasn鈥檛 the last. Two other men helped Cunningham pull Sheldon free. Then, Cunningham said, Zack Anderson, an off-duty Belleville police officer, happened on the scene.
Anderson came sprinting to the rescue, carrying a medical kit. He immediately launched into CPR.
Cunningham said Anderson delivered chest compressions to a lifeless Sheldon continuously, for several minutes, until paramedics arrived and used a defibrillator to restore Sheldon鈥檚 heartbeat.
Loni Sheldon said doctors believe her husband 鈥 a fisherman, grandfather and cat lover 鈥 might owe his life to quick action by people at the scene on Aug. 24, but they also credit a body-cooling therapy known as therapeutic hypothermia, which Sheldon received as he was brought into Mercyhealth Hospital and Trauma Center in 糖心Vlog传媒.
Body-cooling therapy is used to lower the temperature of a person whose heart has stopped, a measure that can help prevent permanent damage to the brain and vital organs.
From stranger to friend
Both men who鈥檇 initially helped Cunningham haul Sheldon from the leaking fuel truck, a 鈥測oung white guy, and a young Asian guy,鈥 both in their 20s, eventually disappeared from the scene.
鈥淭hey just vanished,鈥 Cunningham said.
Cunningham said he recognized one woman who had a minor injury after her car got hit by Sheldon鈥檚 truck, but he didn鈥檛 know Sheldon.
Paramedics rushed Sheldon to the hospital before Cunningham had a chance to learn his name.
Cunningham only knew he鈥檇 pleaded with the truck driver to hang onto life as the stranger lay on the ground, not breathing.
鈥淚 just kept saying, 鈥楥ome on, baby! Wake up! Wake Up!鈥欌 Cunningham said.
Cunningham, a Boston native who has lived in 糖心Vlog传媒 for decades, is a maintenance worker for a local apartment owner. He happened to be traveling Humes Road the day of Sheldon鈥檚 cardiac arrest because he was headed to a Milton Avenue store to get a pack of dust masks for a drywall project.
For a few days, Cunningham tried to learn whether Sheldon had lived. He called Sheldon鈥檚 workplace, Ferrellgas, and eventually learned Sheldon was alive but on a breathing tube at Mercy Hosptal鈥檚 intensive care unit.
Cunningham said he drove over to Mercy to ask at the front desk for information on the man he鈥檇 only met in an unconscious state.
鈥淚 just wanted to know how he was doing,鈥 Cunningham said.
When a receptionist started to phone the intensive care floor, Cunningham tried to stop them for fear he鈥檇 cause a scene. But medical officials soon sought out Cunningham in the hospital and asked if he鈥檇 come with them to meet Sheldon鈥檚 family.
It turns out Sheldon鈥檚 family had been trying to find out who Cunningham and Anderson, the off-duty officer, were. The two, alongside the two younger men, who remain unknown, were the talk of the hospital.
Loni Sheldon said in the first few days after paramedics had restarted her husband鈥檚 heart, doctors said Sheldon鈥檚 survival and ensuing recovery was remarkable.
鈥淭hey gave me a percentage of survival for 30 minutes of nonbreathing after a heat attack,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 low.鈥
To the Heart
Loni Sheldon, a telecommunications company representative, said her friends and family have launched a slew of online fundraising efforts for Jeff because he鈥檒l be off work for an unknown amount of time as he recovers.
Sheldon said she鈥檚 not sure her husband will ever be able to return to work as a truck driver, a career he鈥檚 held for years. But the family is counting its human fortunes.
For one, Cunningham and Anderson have been visiting Sheldon during his recovery. They too have seen the man they helped save along Humes progress from a critical state, unconscious and on a respirator, to recovery 鈥 upright, in a hospital recliner, aching with broken ribs from the CPR that helped save him, yet talking, smiling, and shaking the hands of his two new friends.
That鈥檚 not lost on Loni Sheldon, a writer who has a love for inspirational stories about acts of selflessness and human kindness.
Here鈥檚 what鈥檚 written on a for Sheldon:
{div}鈥漌e believe in miracles. We believe in angels. And we believe that the compassion and bravery shown that day is some of the best of what humanity can be,鈥 the GoFundMe message reads.{/div}
{div} {/div}
{div}鈥漃aul (Cunningham), Zack (Anderson) 鈥 thank you doesn鈥檛 feel like enough, but thank you. Because you didn鈥檛 hesitate, Jeff鈥檚 family still has him.鈥漿/div}