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Heroes’ corner

Alabama employee saves man trapped in home for 10 days

Hero Cissy Cartwright
Hope Hull, AL, Rural Carrier Cissy Cartwright

A Postal Service employee was recently credited with saving the life of a customer who was trapped in his home for 10 days and survived mostly on rain water.

Hope Hull Rural Carrier Cissy Cartwright knew something was wrong when she realized the man, Tommy Hope, wasn’t picking up his mail.

Since Hope lives in a secluded area, Cartwright drove to his home to check on him. She found his front door open and discovered him lying on the floor.

Hope, 66, had fallen and broken his hip and leg. He couldn’t get to his phone, but he managed to scoot over to the door, where he keeps a bucket that filled with rain water.

Using a towel as a filter, Hope drank the water to stay hydrated, local TV station WFSA reported.

Cartwright called 911 and stayed with Hope until paramedics arrived. “I knew Cissy would save me,” he said.

Cartwright said Hope is “a strong man to do some of the things he did to survive. He calls me his hero, but I don’t feel like a hero. I was just at the right place at the right time.”

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