Well Never Forget Everyday Heroes By Angela Guzman

Robert Cook

Robert Cook, a 22-year-old skydiving instructor, was on a plane with 21-year-old Kimberley Dear. She was about to make her first ever skydive, and he was her instructor.

But soon after the plane had taken off, the engine failed. The airplane started plummeting towards the ground at a rapid speed.

Robert calmly told Kimberley to sit on his lap. He then hooked her harness up to his and embraced her to take the brunt of the impact onto himself. He stayed incredibly calm and composed and told Kimberley exactly what she needed to do and kept her calm as well. He then turned his body so that he was underneath her. When the plane hit the ground, his body softened the blow for her.

Robert died after hitting the ground. But thanks to his heroic actions, Kimberley survived. He had given up his own life to save a complete stranger.

Karen Janes

Letter carrier Karen Janes was on her Cambridge, Ontario route on Jan. 25, 2000 when she saw Gloria Wills desperately pounding on the locked front door of Wills's parents' house. Janes knew that something was wrong. Wills's father, Lou Hoegy, 76, a retired building superintendent, was lying unconscious on the kitchen floor inside. A diabetic, he had missed lunch, and his blood sugar had plummeted. Realizing he was in trouble, he had just enough time to call his wife at her volunteer job, and she had alerted their daughter. Gloria told Janes that if she didn't get in, her father would die.

Janes took charge, asked a neighbor to phone 911, then grabbed a screwdriver from the garage, pried open a window and leaped inside. Cradling Lou's head in her lap, Janes helped him swallow some orange juice—a simple but lifesaving move. In minutes paramedics arrived. Checking back later, she found Lou recovered—and grateful.