WOIO writes about great grandmother saved by Lakemore resident!
Akron great-grandmother says postal worker saved her life after refrigerator fell on top of her
AKRON, Ohio (WOIO) - An Akron great-grandmother told 19 News she owes everything to a postal worker.
A few weeks ago, 89-year-old Betty Rucker went to her fridge to get some fruit. Somehow in the process, the entire refrigerator came crashing down on top of her.
“I was terrified,” Rucker said. “It was coming right at me, and I thought it was gonna really squish my head. I went backwards into the floor, and I could only smell the pickles and the olives because that’s what broke, and I had dill juice running down my back.”
The Akron great-grandmother lives in her apartment alone.
She usually has home attendants with her, but the catastrophe happened while she was waiting for her other aid to arrive.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared when I looked up and that freezer part was coming off in my face,” she said.
Pinned underneath the refrigerator and unable to move, Rucker started screaming for help.
“I could scream pretty loud and when you’re more scared you yell louder,” she said.
Thankfully a USPS worker delivering the mail heard her cries.
“He came through the door saying. ‘Honey I’m coming to help you,’ and the man came through the door, and it was the mailman and he picked up the refrigerator and just slung it over that corner,” Rucker recalled. “Then he says, ‘I’ll get you the paramedics,’ and I said, ‘Then will you get my son and my daughter? They only live up the street,’ and so he squatted there beside me until they came.”
Rucker believes he saved her life.
“In my opinion he did and that’s why I wanted to give him thanks and acknowledge the fact that he did help me and if it hadn’t been for him, I would’ve been a lot more nervous and a lot more scared than I really was,” the great grandmother said.
So how on earth does an 89-year-old woman take down a refrigerator that weighs more than 200 lbs?
Well, she opened the fridge, and she was bending down to pull something out and she put her weight on the door, and that somehow caused the fridge to tip forward and fall on top of her.
The culprit is still in her apartment, but her family believes it’s secure now.
“I went very carefully to that refrigerator today to open it up get some fruit,” said Rucker.
The great-grandmother of 13 spent a few days at Cleveland Clinic Akron General and then went to rehab. She managed to escape the ordeal without any serious injuries.
“I’m so sore that there ain’t nothing on me that don’t hurt,” said Rucker.
Her family couldn’t be more grateful.
She hopes the postal worker knows how thankful she is too.
“I thank you with all my heart and that was why I wanted to let him know and acknowledge I appreciated what he did for me, and the kids did write him a letter to thank him,” Rucker said. “I thought I might make him a cake you know I don’t know what I was gonna do but I know that he deserves more than I can ever give him.”
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