Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Heroic Instructor Saves Life

HOUSTON, TEXAS, May 10, 2010

Heroic Skydiving Instructor Saves Life

Dave Hartsock Takes Brunt of Impact and Becomes Paralyzed after Parachutes Tangle

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    • Skydiving instructor Dave Hartsock was paralyzed when he took saved
 his student, and took the brunt of the impact when his parachutes 
tangled.

 

(CBS)  Updated 5/17/10 8:25pm

Thank you for your generous response to this story. After our story aired last week, nearly $40,000 has been raised to help pay Dave Hartsock's medical bills.


Sorting junk mail day after day -- driving the same rural mail route week after week -- you can understand why Shirley Dygert of Teague, Texas, thought she could use a little exhilaration for a change.

For her 54th birthday, the grandmother of three decided to send herself airmail - by jumping out of a plane from 13,000 feet. CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman reports Dygert was strapped to her instructor in what's called a tandem jump.

In video taken before the jump, Dygert is seen with her instructor and soon to be hero: Dave Hartsock.

Make a Donation to Dave Hartsock

There isn't any video of what happened next, just still photos. Their first parachute opened, but only partially -- and their reserve chute just got tangled-up with the first one.

"And I thought, huh, this is how I'm going to die," Dygert said. "I thought God please help us, God please help Dave and we just continued to spiral."

At 40 mph and 500 feet from the ground, Hartsock did the truly unimaginable. Just before crashing, he told Shirley to lift up her feet. He then pulled down the control toggles to rotate their position to put his body under hers to act as a cushion so that when they hit, he would take the brunt of the fall.

"I can't hardly believe it," Dygert said. "He broke my fall."

Hartsock didn't die, but his valor cost him dearly. He's now paralyzed with just a little movement in his right arm.

"People keep telling me that it was a heroic thing to do," Hartsock said. "In my opinion it was just the right thing to do. I mean, I was the one who was completely responsible for her safety. What other choices were there?"

"You hear heroes say that, don't you?" Dygert said. "It's just because that's the kind of person they are."

We were with them the first time they saw each other since the accident. Although she came to hospital to cheer him up, it turned out the other way around. Hartsock had her laughing, and even invited her skydiving again.

"We're accident-proof now, baby. I mean what are the odds of something like that happening twice like that?"

He's planning on it someday.

Hartsock has a long road ahead - although some feeling is already coming back. Plus, he's got his mom taking care of him and she's got his same spirit.

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Monday, June 14, 2010

Make Some $$?

I am a modern day entrepreneur. This means that, yes, one day I will finally open the doors to my very own business!! In the mean time, whenever someone offers an opportunity to make some extra cash without it being a scam I'm game. So, I am checking this link out. And its free. Not bad.

Curious? Click on it. ------> My Likes


Sunday, June 6, 2010

Randomness

So, I know I am a completely random person. When I chat with people and excited, I tend to jump from one discussion to the next or one subject to the next. Lately, I have been fascinated with my new Kodak digital zoom camera so there has been a recent increase in photo taking :). Here are some completely RANDOM photos that I enjoyed taking!





By Rachel Rivera Radcastle

By Rachel Rivera Radcastle

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