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Mother meets Uber driver who helped save her son's life
An emotional meeting in Montgomery County as a mother thanks an Uber driver – a total stranger – for stepping in to help save her son’s life.
ABINGTON, Pa. - A local mother finally had the opportunity to meet the Uber driver who helped save her son’s life.
What we know:
Debbie Anderson and Taras Zvir met for the first time on Thursday after Justin Anderson suffered a spontaneous brain bleed on February 25 in the backseat of Zvir’s car.
"If it was somebody else, I would hope they’d do the same thing," said Zvir who pulled over and called 911.
"He’s not giving himself enough credit for having played a part in Justin being here right now," said Debbie.
The backstory:
Zvir said it was his first day back driving Uber after taking a break for a couple years. Fate would have it, Justin also needed to call an Uber to get to his new job instead of driving there himself.
"So if he was driving himself, he probably would’ve gotten in an accident, I’m sure, or if he was home by himself you know he wouldn’t have been able to call 911," said Debbie.
Justin was Zvir’s second passenger that day and the ride was filled with friendly conversation. Zvir said it became noticeable once something was wrong with Justin.
Uber driver sought after helping passenger suffering medical emergency: ‘I would hug him and thank him’
A 41-year-old man is fighting for his life in the hospital after he was on the way to his job in an Uber when he suffered a medical emergency. His family is looking to find the ride-share driver to give him gratitude for helping the 41-year-old.
What they're saying:
"Towards the end of the drive, I heard him make some noise, kind of turned back and looked at him and noticed he was sweating and had a difficult time breathing. That’s when I asked him, ‘Are you okay,’" said Zvir.
Zvir said the 911 operator told him to perform CPR immediately. It turns out, Zvir worked as an EMT over 10 years ago and the training kicked in.
"I think I was doing it for 6 to 8 minutes until I started hearing the sirens which is the best siren, the best noise you can hear when you’re in an emergency situation," said Zvir.
Big picture view:
Two weeks later, Justin is slowly recovering at Jefferson Abington Hospital. His mother said her 41-year-old son is no longer in a coma, but has yet to wake up. Doctors believe he can now hear and see.
"It’s been very, very difficult," said Debbie. I have a lot of hope and I stay strong for Justin. He thinks I’m a warrior and I’m going to be a warrior until he gets through this."
What you can do:
Doctors said Justin may wake up within days, weeks or months. His family started this GoFundMe campaign to raise money for medical expenses.