Letter Carrier Lisa Sweeney and customer Marie Boyer have become close friends since the Postal Service employee recently saved the 87-year-old woman’s life.
Sweeney has delivered mail on her route in Staten Island, NY, for more than a decade, and she knows her customers’ routines well.
She was alarmed when she returned from a week’s vacation and saw that Boyer’s mail was piling up, empty trash cans were in her driveway long after garbage pickup, and her car was there on the day she always went out to shop.
“My heart told me she was inside,” Sweeney said in an interview with the local CBS station, one of several news organizations that reported on her heroism.
After knocking on Boyer’s door and getting no response, Sweeney called 911. Emergency responders discovered that the customer, who lives alone, was stranded in her bedroom — clinging to life after falling several days earlier.
“There were no windows open and I kept calling out … but nobody could hear me,” said Boyer.
She later told Sweeney, “I knew you’d know I was in the house because the mail was all there.”
The New York Post reported that Boyer moved to an assisted-living facility after recovering from her injuries. She and Sweeney talk frequently by phone and in person, often sharing a pint of pistachio ice cream — Boyer’s favorite.
They’re even planning to spend Thanksgiving together.
“I think she’s very special,” Boyer told the local ABC station. “I don’t think she just thinks about herself. She thinks about others.”