First Responder Heroes

What would you do if you had just one second to act, and someone’s life depended on your decision?

https://people.com/rhode-island-firefighters-rescue-dog-who-fell-into-icy-pond-11878448

https://people.com/police-help-homeless-woman-sleeping-on-husbands-grave-cemetery-11895462

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/11/you-have-to-see-this-dramatic-footage-shows-security-guard-save-woman-from-being-hit-by-train/

https://people.com/barefoot-girl-rescued-by-off-duty-paramedic-after-raging-fire-breaks-out-on-thanksgiving-11860468

https://people.com/officials-rush-save-baby-started-choking-went-into-cardiac-arrest-11824299

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-police-department-retired-detective-drowns-puerto-rico-saving-boy/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/caught-on-camera-police-officer-in-texas-saves-little-girl-from-choking/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Welcome to the Cashley Show. We are Kevin and Ashley.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hello.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

We started this podcast after recent tragedies to take a break from negativity and discover the good news happening all around us. Everywhere. Every day, ordinary people face extraordinary moments. A quick decision, a helping hand, a life transform. The stories remind us that heroism isn't always obvious. It can appear in a police uniform, a paramedic jacket, or a stranger who decides to help.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

I was gonna say those first two kind of what I would expect. Heroes in uniform.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Yeah, we're actually these are actually first responder heroes stories.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Okay, so this is kind of going back to our roots, like where things started.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

We haven't done one about news stuff for a while. So I thought we'd do one.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Okay. So you said first responders. Is that what is a first responder exactly?

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Police, firemen, and paramedics.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

So just any of those like emergency services? So is there emergency services that are not first responders? Or what's a second responder?

SPEAKER_02 1:22

They're the first ones you call, I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, it's interesting. Like because when I think of first responders, that makes me think of like a like a task force or a special like you know, emergency services, but then you have first responders. That's like those are the ones who show up first. Like that's what they're supposed to do is get out there and get there quick. Right? And then you have like other emergency services that are more I don't know, like slower, but because they serve a different different purpose, right? Like the big fire trucks or whatever, big fire engines. Like those are second responders.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Maybe the hospital's second responders.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah. Like the helicopter that comes when there's an accident. It's like I mean, it's a helicopter's gonna get there somewhat quick, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Not as fast as the paramedics and stuff. Life flights usually.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

So first responders really just another term for emergency services, emergency personnel. Okay. Alright, I'll buy that.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Yeah. Yeah, they have a a real hard job, I think. I don't I don't think I could be like a paramedic. That's a lot of pressure all the time.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

How come? How is that different than like a firefighter or the police?

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Well, they those are hard too, but because like you have someone, a patient that's dying like right there in the box with you as you're driving them to the hospital. In the box. You have to keep them alive.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

That's way too much pressure for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Not a career for Ashley.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

No. Your brother does volunteer firefighting, and your niece as well.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Yeah, that's true, and they get so they'll get called out. And I guess they would be first responders, because like they show up on scenes, they have the the trucks and like they're out there. But they're not like they're not at the station, so they're wherever they are. And you can then go to the station and then go. I don't know. I mean, I guess that's that's still first responders, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

If they're the first do they have to go to the station or do they just go straight in their own car somewhere? I think they go to the station. Like if someone's closer to the station, do they go get the fire truck and then everyone else? Meet them over there?

SPEAKER_00 3:39

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Because it doesn't make sense to like oh the accident's right here, but we have to go all the way over here and then come back. I don't know. I don't understand how volunteer works.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yeah, me either. I don't I don't know. It's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

I have to ask him.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Maybe he'll listen and then he can respond.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

These are stories of courage, connection, and what happens when someone chooses not to ignore another person in need. In 2015, Officer Patrick Gray was on duty in Texas. He had got a call that made his heart stop. A toddler was choking. Twenty-two month old Bexley had swallowed a coin and it was stuck in her airway. When Patrick arrived, he saw her big blue eyes looking up at him. It felt like she knew I was there to help, he said. He cleared her airway and soon after Bexley started to cry. The most comforting sound in the room. An X-ray showed the coin had been swallowed. Bexley's family said once it passed, they planned to clean it and make it into a necklace.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Ew.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

You have to go through all that poop until you find it.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Rose Ashley. So I like was she like choking, choking? Because it seems like if you call 911, like if you're choking and you call 911, like I you know, good job on 911, but I've never seen them show up in less than like a couple minutes. So this little girl was without air for a couple minutes.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

I think he was close by and her mom actually walked out to him with her in her arms. Yeah, and then I don't know. I think that choking's kind of weird because it used to be like you're supposed to sweep the air away, but I don't think that you're supposed to do that now because you like shove it back down.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Well, sounds kind of like what happened when she swallowed it.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Yeah, this was 11 years ago, so maybe it's changed since then. I don't know. But but it's better it goes down. Yeah, then stay.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

But also, if it gets blocked further down, like turns back and blocks further down, then it's not helpful either.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

All right. What was his name?

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Um Patrick Ray.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Patrick Ray? Good job.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Another one from 2015. Jose Rosario was retired after working for the New York Police Department for over 20 years. He was vacationing with his family in Puerto Rico. They went to the beach one day. Jose saw a 12-year-old boy struggling in the rough water and jumped in to save him. He managed to get the boy onto a rock, but then a wave swept Jose out to sea. His body was later recovered.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Oh, I was gonna say, like, before you said that, I was gonna say the drowning stuff is rough because you go out there and now you're the victim, or you're like you both drowned, or and that's what happened.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Yeah. Our daughter got swept out. Like it's not I forget the term. It wasn't the undertow one, it was the other one. We're just like riptide? Yeah, the riptide took her and some other girls out.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Out to sea?

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Yeah, yeah, it was taking them out. They were on a church camping trip, and they were just out there, and then they found themselves way far out. She's terrified of the water now. Which I don't blame her. Like the ocean's pretty scary.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

There was that one big wrestler guy that saved his kids in like a riptide, and then he drowned.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Then he drowned because he's so exhausted.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Yeah, well, like the riptides, like water is water's brutal. It is it can it's tough. It can drown anyone. That's pretty crazy. Alright. In October of 2025, at a busy train station in Kayseri, Turkey, a woman walked through the terminal with headphones in and her eyes on her phone, completely unaware of her surroundings. Uh-oh. She reached a platform, looked to her right, and stepped forward just as a train sped in, horn blaring. She didn't hear it. Didn't look to her left.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Seems like a train horn is really loud. Like how how high up are her headphones turned? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

In a split second, a security guard lunged and pulled her back so hard they both fell to the ground. She had no idea how close she'd come to being hit by a train until she fell down.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

But he probably he pulled her down and she's like, What?

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Get off of me as the train's blowing them. Alright, in December of 2025, Officer Jamie Pastolo saw 55-year-old Rhea struggling up a hill with a heavy box of groceries and stopped to offer her a ride. It was a small gesture, but it changed everything. During the drive, Rhea said she was going to the cemetery to visit her husband's grave. They talked the whole way. Something about their conversation stayed with Jamie. So before he dropped Did you say Jamie? His name's Jamie. Before Jamie dropped Rhea off, he asked if he could take a photo with her. She smiled and agreed. He posted the photo to the department's Facebook page. That photo spread widely. A cemetery worker saw it and quietly contacted the department with a concern. He believed Rhea had been sleeping on her husband's grave regularly. After losing her husband, Rhea's life fell apart. She lost her job in her home, but even in her deepest grief, she kept helping others by volunteering at food pantries and churches. She said giving was the only thing that kept her going. I believe God led me to Jamie, Rhea said. Jamie got to work. He helped Rhea find housing and started a GoFundMe for her, which at the time of when I wrote this, I looked it up and he had raised over $87,000 for her. Nice. He got her into a home just days before there was a major snowstorm. I'm pretty sure this was New York. Rhea said she knows she wouldn't have survived outside in that storm. In September of 2025, a police officer's Oh, this is another story?

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Yep. I didn't know you went on to another story. I was just waiting for you. That was the end of Rhea. Just gonna say that this is what I expect from you when I die.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

To sleep on your head.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Yeah, sleep on my grave, and your life should fall apart. That's all I expect.

unknown 10:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

In September of 2025, a police officer's radio crackled with every parent's worst fear. A baby was choking again.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Another choking? Was it money again? Pennies? Is that why they're getting rid of pennies? Because all they're good for is choking little kids.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

This one doesn't say what it was. It probably did in the story, but I didn't write it down.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Why are kids always putting money in their mouth? Money's disgusting. So dirty.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Yeah, like there's so many, but there's so many little things that they could choke on. Like even grapes and hot dogs. When our kids were little, I would cut them up into like way too small pieces.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

They never got to experience-a mouth. Yeah, a full grape until they were like nine years old.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Yeah, I wasn't I I don't want to do that. That's terrifying. The officer rushed to the scene. Before he'd even parked, a mother ran toward him, her baby limp in her arms, and her face full of terror. The officer took the baby right away and cleared her airway, his hands steady even as the seconds dragged on. When paramedics arrived, they heard the sound of the broad relief. The baby was crying. So the police officer had saved the baby when they arrived. The baby was taken to the hospital for observation, but was going to be okay. That is so scary. Yeah. I hate choking. We've had kids do stuff like that. Like they've choked a little bit. Like I think you held one of them upside down and we were patting them because they were young.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Just another day in my life.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Kevin's real good under pressure. I'm not. Usually.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Usually I have my off days.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Just before midnight on Thanksgiving 2025, a duplex caught fire. Paramedic Richard Rosinos was driving home from a family's Thanksgiving celebration when he saw the flames. As he got closer, he saw something that made his heart stop. A seven-year-old girl standing in the doorway with the fire raging behind her. He ran to her, picked her up, and carried her to safety. She was later treated for blisters on her feet. When someone asked her about the rescue, she thought for a moment and said, It was really nice of him to help me. That's what nice people do.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

That's true. She had blisters on her feet, like the bottom of her feet from walking across.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

From walking, I don't know if like her standing, like her leaving the house in the fire, like she was walking through that, or where she was standing was hot. I didn't say but why she got the blisters, but something from that fire.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Well, luckily that's all that she got.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

I know. The story actually said something about her, the little girl, like telling her grandma that there was a fire, but then there was nothing about the grandma later. So I didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Because she got out of there. She's like, there's a fire! She ran off.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

She went a different way. Next story. On January 1st, 2026, a yellow lab was out for a walk with its owner when it wandered onto an ice-covered pond and fell through.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Oh no. Yep. Story.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Did you hear the story?

SPEAKER_00 13:40

No. Well, this is like happens all the time.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

I know. Police, fire, and ambulance crews were all dispatched. When the first responders arrived, the boat the dog was struggling to stay afloat. The rescuers put the put on their ice gear, went out, and got him onto an inflatable raft. Everyone made it back to shore safely. That's I don't know. I can't imagine falling into the ice.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Right? So cold. Just like immediate. You can't breathe. Your body's all tense.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

This is a little thing I found. If you ever find yourself in a similar similar situation, take slow, deep breaths to stay calm to avoid drowning. Swim back to where you fell in. Try to roll rather than climb back onto the ice, which I don't understand how you roll onto the ice when you're in water. But try to do that, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Yeah, I don't I don't know. I also don't know how you take slow controlled breaths when you're in freezing cold water.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Yeah, and you're drowning.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Yeah. When you have all your clothes, your winter gear on.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Yeah. I don't know how you I don't know how you stay calm because I'd be freaked out.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

We had it also says move away from the broken section. We had we went up to a place a couple years ago, last year, and our our dog had been used to stepping out onto our our above ground pool when the it was covered with ice because it was so thick, he would walk out. And then we went up to this I don't know, what is that?

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Little reservoir.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Yeah, and Kevin had the leash, and the dog went out just stepping onto the ice, except it was very thin, and he went through the ice and Kevin had to pull him back out by his luckily his collar stayed on it.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yeah, everything stayed on, yeah, because he was uh he went in and under the ice. I had to pull him back to the hole where he fell in and then yeah, get him out.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Yeah, that was also scary. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Yeah. When I was growing up, when I was a kid in, I don't know, fourth grade, maybe fifth grade. Me and one of my friends went to this like spot over by where I live where it had like a river, like a small river or creek running through, but it was dammed up by some beavers. So it had like kind of a a bigger, like a pond area that was kind of deep, but had ice on it, right? So we we spent Saturdays like smashing a hole through the ice, created a decent hole. We were pretty proud of ourselves. And then you know, then we went home, job well done. And then we find out on Monday that one of the kids on Sunday had gone and played over there, like one of the kids we went to school with, like a couple of them, and he was playing and fell through the hole that we made.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

And like went in, but they got him out and everything because like the ice was still thick, so it wasn't like it broke. But yeah, he went under and was like under the ice and had to go back to the hole and then they pulled him out or whatever. I just remember being like just like terrified. They're like, I killed that kid.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Yeah. That would be scary. My brothers and my dad's friend like to go ice fishing. It just seems crazy. One morning in 2005, Kevin, not not my Kevin. I think this is actually our last story. It's kind of a long story. Oh.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

It's kind of a long story.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

Yeah, it's kind of a long story. Okay. Let's see if I have another one. Nope, this is the last one. But it's kinda long.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Save Kevin for last.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Well, actually, so both of the people in the story are named Kevin. So I'm gonna call one Kevin and then one by their last name. Okay. Because it's two Kevins.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

There are a lot of them out there.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

But not neither of them are my Kevin. One morning in 2005, Kevin felt like his world was falling apart. He had just lost his job. Okay. His premature baby was in the hospital, and medical bills were adding up quickly. It seemed too much to handle. So Kevin made a decision. He drove 16 miles to the Golden Gate Bridge, planning to jump. He climbed over the railing and started counting down. That's when California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Briggs saw him. Briggs had been in situations like this before. His job was actually to watch this bridge and help people.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Yeah, well, I was gonna say I was gonna wait till the end to like ask how many like suicide attempts on the Golden Gate Bridge there are like per year. Cause kind of a famous bridge. I think several people have jumped off of it.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Their average of 30 suicides at the bridge each year.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Thirty a year? Okay, so it is a very common occurrence. There's nothing they nothing they can do about this? Well, that's what Kevin's station was, was just to help. Well, yeah, but it doesn't seem like it's going very well.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

So is that 30 attempts or 30 deaths?

SPEAKER_02 18:51

It just says suicides. I put attempts in my question, and it only came away that one.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

That seems like a lot.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

Says between and Wikipedia says between 1937 and 2026, an estimated 2,000 people have jumped to their deaths from the Golden Gate Bridge. Whoa. Yeah. Okay. Back to Kevin and Kevin.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Back to the happy part of this story.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

That's when Okay. Briggs had been in situations like this before. He had talked more than 200 people back from the edge of the from the same ledge. He was What a tough job.

unknown 19:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Because when you like even if you do your job correctly, like you still could lose people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

And if there's watch that happen, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

You said 30 a year.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

And I don't remember. Hold on. Yeah.

unknown 19:46

Man.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

I wonder if they still have someone situated in that spot to do this. Because Kevin's now retired.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

But anyway, so Kevin or sorry, Briggs was known as the guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge. He walked calmly towards Kevin and said, Hi, do you mind if I speak with you for a while? I won't touch you. I'm just going to talk and listen. For ninety-two minutes, Briggs listened. Kevin shared his deepest, darkest secrets with a complete stranger. Then he climbed back over the railing. He spent eleven days in the hospital. When Kevin was released.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

For what? Probably like the cycle. Just on watch? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

When Kevin was released, he saw his own photo on the front page of a newspaper standing on the ledge of the Golden Gate Bridge. It sent him in a down into a downward spiral. For the next eight years, Kevin battled severe depression and attempted to take his life more than a dozen times. Meanwhile, Briggs never contacted people he saved. He was concerned he might be he might remind them of a difficult time. The only exception was a letter from Kevin's mother, Narvella, who thanked him for saving her son's life. Briggs kept that letter. In 2013, after 23 years with the High Patrol, Briggs was getting ready to retire. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention wanted to honor him, but Briggs had turned down the recognition before. This time his commander insisted he accept. Briggs saw a chance to do something special. He found Narvella and asked if she could help bring Kevin to New York for the ceremony.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

To New York? Dang. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Together they made a plan. They told Kevin he had won an all expenses paid trip to New York in a radio contest. Kevin didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Is this something you should do to someone who's mentally unstable and has tried suicide a bunch? Well it worked out for you. You won a free trip and then he gets there and there's no free trip and there's a He didn't win a free trip. I guess you're right.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

He did Briggs probably paid for it all.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Yeah, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

So he got a free trip.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Technically it's a free trip. Okay, keep going.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Kevin didn't know what was in store for him. When Kevin arrived, he saw the man that saved his life. He was shocked. During those ninety-two minutes on the bridge, he had been so lost in his own thoughts he had never looked up to see who he was talking to. He didn't know his rescuer was a police officer. He said that if he had known, he would have never opened up. He had never had a good experience with law enforcement. The two men hugged. Briggs called them friends. Kevin said their bond was even stronger. They were more like brothers. It had nothing to do with race, Kevin said. It was the power of connection. It's all about the power of connection. So Briggs is the cop and he was white, and Kevin was a guy that was trying to kill himself and he was black. Okay. That's why the race thing's in there.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

I mean it figured as much. I didn't know like which way it went. But yeah. They're both named Kevin, so it's like, well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

When it was time to give Briggs his award, Kevin took the microphone and gave an unplanned speech. It was raw, honest, and straight from the heart. Everyone in the room stood up afterwards. Since then, Kevin and Briggs have met up several times a year to share their story. Kevin has become a strong voice in suicide prevention, using one of his darkest moments to help others. These stories are different in many ways. Oh sorry, that was the end of Kevin. Anyways, I think he ended up being like a motivational speaker or something. Yeah. Or they do something together anyways. So they're still as of when the story was written, they were still friends. I don't know if Briggs is still alive. I don't know. Anyways. These stories are different in many ways, but they share one thing. In each story, someone chooses a step up. They remind us that the most powerful thing we can do is pay attention, be present, and take action. You never know whose life you might change or save. I wanted to do a story about first responders because I think they have a really hard job. And I think they get a lot of negative publicity. But there are good things that they do for people. They think we need to remember that there's good in all people. Yeah. Sorry? Yeah. Remember, even a small act of kindness can be someone's beacon in their darkest moment. Choose kindness every day. Reach out to someone today. You have the power to change a life. Be the signal of hope this world needs.