A bus driver’s normal route turns into a life-threatening situation after he notices something odd.
Mike Blair, a bus driver for the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, is being hailed a hero.
After making one of his usual daily stops, he noticed that everyone proceeded to board his bus except for an older gentleman.
“This one gentleman, he didn’t board and he seemed like he started to kind of grasp the wall there.” – Mike told KSNV-News3
The sun was beating down that day and the temperature was hovering around 110 degrees.
That was no place for anyone to stand for long, especially an elderly person.
Blair could have continued his route as if all was fine. But he didn’t.
Blair decided to take a closer look at the man’s face before continuing. Something wasn’t right.
He saw the elderly man trying to grasp the wall but not being able to reach it. He looked up at Blair as if asking for help and that’s when the bus driver flew into action.
Blair quickly helped the man get on the bus and sat him in a seat.
It turned out that the elderly man, who was 92-years-old, was suffering from heatstroke.
Heatstroke can happen quickly and if the elderly man had been waiting outside in that heat for the bus, it’s not surprising he was starting to feel the effects.
“I put him right here in this seat…it had to be smokin hot out there.” – Mike told KSNV News3
It was lucky that Mike had stopped when he did and was observant enough to see that help was needed.
Mike gave the man his bottle of water.
As he helped him, a passenger on the bus snapped a photo of Mike’s valiant efforts. He rushed to get a bottle of water he had and gave it to the old man.
Mike’s selfless act made all the difference for a person he didn’t even know.
“I had a bottle of water that I brought in my lunchbox so I got my lunchbox out and gave him the bottle of water.” – Mike told KSNV News 3
The passenger who snapped the photo put it on Twitter and it quickly went viral.
Since Mike didn’t have Twitter he wasn’t aware that anyone had taken a photo till later.
“I didn’t know they had taken a picture…It’s amazing…simply amazing,” – Mike Blair
The reporters joked with Mike about the photo being on social media.
They asked him if he had Twitter and he responded,
“No…I guess I might have to learn how to do Twitter huh?” – Mike told KSNV-TV
When Mike’s boss called to thank him for being a great driver and person, Mike was initially nervous about getting a call from his boss.
He joked, “what did I do now?”
His boss was surprised that Mike was nervous because he is a stellar employee.
“Michael is actually a really really good driver…never got into any kind of trouble so it’s actually funny that he thought he would be in any kind of trouble. -Francis Julien told KSNV-TV
Mike reflected on what the old man last said before leaving the bus.
“The old man said thank you…he said ‘you know I’m 92 years old’…simply amazing.” – Mike told KSNV-TV
See the inspiring video that has people hailing this bus driver a hero below!
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