Mailman Hears Child Saying “Is My Mom D3AD” What He Discovers Next Is Heartbreaking
Sometimes life doesn’t go as planned. Suddenly everything we think we have under control blows up and leaves us wounded, exposed, and vulnerable to others. We’re not in control. We need help, but we can’t ask for it either. It is then that we can only hope and pray that someone generous enough will help us, putting aside all their prejudices, and will come to our aid.
Andrew Russell, a letter carrier, was going about his normal day’s work when he would see something that would freeze him in his tracks and completely change the course of his day and the days that would follow. Most likely, Russell was a 30-year-old mail carrier from Colorado City, a husband, and also the father of a beautiful 4-year-old girl named Emma. Andrew did the same things every day. He had a set routine that he liked to follow and had never varied in the past 5 years. He was a very simple man with a modest and kind character who didn’t need to have too much to feel happy. It was enough for him to know that his family was well and that he had a place to return to every day after work—a simple job, but one that at times could be exasperating.
Russell had been a mailman since he was 25, a little over 5 years ago, a job that although not ideal since his plans during high school were different, made him very happy and provided him and his family with everything they needed. We all know that when we’re asked at school what we want to do when we grow up, no child usually answers, “I want to be a mailman,” but rather astronaut, doctor, policeman, or fireman, right? Children always tend to associate success with risky jobs that involve great power and responsibility, like saving someone’s life, putting out a fire, stopping murderers, etc. So working delivering letters and parcels through the streets of a nice quiet town doesn’t exactly sound like a job, or maybe it is. It all depends on what happens while you’re delivering the letters and what you decide to do as a result.
Cities, no matter how beautiful and peaceful they may seem, can always be full of dangerous and unforeseen events. And if there’s someone capable of realizing that something strange is going on or that someone is in trouble, it is precisely the mailman. And that’s what our protagonist did, who unintentionally ended the day as a real superhero from a Spider-Man book.
It all started when Andrew Russell was about to finish his work day. He was doing his job while he was walking his daily postal route in Wheat Ridge. He had only a couple of letters to deliver to a couple of neighbors in the same street when suddenly he heard a strange noise coming from a parked car a few meters away. He stood still for a few seconds looking from one side to the other, wanting to make sure that the noise he heard was coming from the car that was parked on the side of the road. There was no one else there. It was 6:00 in the evening on a working Thursday. The neighborhood was very quiet and had hardly any traffic. If something bad was going on, only he could find out.
Russell also heard a strange sound coming from the car as if the engine was revving, but paid attention to it. However, he became concerned when the next sound he heard coming from the car was that of a small child who seemed upset.
“I’m sure I just heard a child screaming. I have to get closer to check it out. Maybe it’s dangerous, but what if there’s a child trapped in the car and he’s in trouble? I have to find out for sure,” said the mailman to himself, very frightened at the thought of getting into trouble.
Russell was characterized as a peaceful person and hated conflict. However, he knew how to identify situations in which he had to put aside all his fears and act on his instincts, and that was one of those situations. Automatically, the mailman dropped his mail and ran to the car to see what happened. What he found inside the car would leave him speechless.
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As he approached the car, he saw a little girl screaming in the backseat, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying, so he moved closer. The little girl couldn’t have been more than 6 years old, maybe less. She was screaming non-stop and was looking toward the driver’s seat with pain in her eyes. As he got closer, Russell could hear her sobbing.
“Is my mom dead? She won’t wake up. Mommy!” the little girl screamed in desperation.
Russell threw his mailman’s cart on the ground, took off his backpack, and opened the back door of the car which, as expected, was unlocked. He immediately took the child out of the car before checking on the mother. Holding the girl in his arms, she stopped screaming and stood mute, staring into his eyes as she held back tears. She was a beautiful little girl with big green eyes and blonde hair, but her precious face was filled with fear. It broke Andrew’s heart to see her like that. She reminded him so much of his daughter Emma.
“It’s okay, little girl, don’t cry. I’m not going to hurt you, okay? What’s wrong with your mommy? What about your daddy? Do you know if he’s around?” Russell asked the girl, trying to calm her down and understand what happened.
But the girl was too small to understand what was happening and just stayed silent while looking at him as if she’d seen a ghost. The only thing she managed to say was, “Mommy, I love my mommy. Tell her to wake up,” she said between sobs, pointing to her mother who was motionless against the steering wheel.
Andrew left the girl sitting on the floor and walked over to the car to check on the mother’s condition. She didn’t look well. She was a young woman barely 30 years old, and it was obvious from her appearance that she was tired and not at her best. Furthermore, she was hunched against the steering wheel and didn’t seem to be breathing, but he wasn’t sure.
“Hello ma’am, can you hear me? Hello!” exclaimed the mail man as he checked to make sure she was still breathing.
She was alive but not opening her eyes. Russell tried to wake her up, gently lifted her in the seat, and shook her to wake her up, but there was no effect. Then, seeing the seriousness of the matter, the mailman immediately called 911.
While the police were on their way, the girl’s mother, whose name was Ashley Figgers, woke up. The woman was very nervous and disoriented, and upon seeing her daughter crying in the arms of a stranger, panicked.
“Rebecca, my baby girl! She’s my daughter, please don’t hurt her! Wait, wait, what happened? What am I doing here?” said the woman, frightened as she tried to sit up and clear her mind.
Seeing the mother’s condition, Andrew rushed to calm her down and explain what had happened.
“My name’s Andrew, I’m the mailman, and I was driving by when I heard your daughter screaming and you unconscious against the steering wheel. As you can understand, I was very frightened to see you like that, so I pulled your daughter out of the car and called 911. Are you all right? What’s your name? Do you know what happened to you? You don’t need to be afraid, I’m here to try to help you,” Russell explained calmly.
He could tell that the woman was very confused and needed time to assimilate all the information he was giving her.
“My name is Ashley. I was driving, but then everything became blurry. I couldn’t breathe properly, and I don’t remember anything else. Wait, I was… I was taking my daughter to pool practice. That’s why I’m here. Her swimming club’s this way,” the mother started saying with difficulty.
Andrew looked at her with pity. He didn’t know what was wrong with the woman, but he could tell she was having a really hard time. He didn’t think she was a bad mother. She didn’t seem to be drunk either, so there must be some logical explanation for everything that had happened. She just needed some space and time to recover.
“Breathe, you don’t have to remember everything now. Don’t worry, the ambulance will be here soon and they’ll help you. I’ll stay here until then,” Russell soothed her as he made sure the girl was okay.
About 10 minutes later, the police and an ambulance arrived, and Ashley Figgers was quickly attended to to check her vitals. She hadn’t been drinking, but it was clear that she was under the influence of some substance. And so it was, when the paramedics asked her if she’d taken anything before driving, the mother began to cry and admitted to the officer she’d taken a pill for the condition she had. She’d been epileptic for a couple of years and she felt sick while driving, so she pulled to the side of the road and passed out.
That cleared up a lot of things, but it did nothing to improve the compromising situation in which the mother and daughter found themselves. The authorities took her statement and, after several minutes, the ambulance took her and the child away for a thorough examination to verify that everything Mrs. Figgers was saying was true.
In the end, it all turned out to be a scare, but this small isolated accident could have ended in tragedy had it not been for the courageous action of letter carrier Russell, a man who’d never attracted attention before and who suddenly caught the attention of all the media, which quickly echoed the news. Andrew had started the day delivering the mail as he does every day, but ended up saving a frightened six-year-old girl and helping her disoriented and sick mother.
Everyone who heard about the incident, including the police officer who responded to the scene after his 911 call, praised the letter carrier’s quick response and wanted to thank him publicly for his generosity to the girl and mother.
“I’m glad he was there to help the little girl in those circumstances so she had someone she could trust. That mother desperately needed help, and that man was there for them. No questions asked, no prejudice, he jumped in to help them, and that deserves all our respect. Not anyone is capable of doing that for others,” said the police captain in an interview.
Russell, for his part, remained modest while others praised his actions. Hearing a little girl plead for help struck a chord with the letter carrier, who also had a daughter and would not have put up with such a thing happening to her.
For her part, the little girl’s mother, Ashley Figgers, was charged with driving under the influence of medication, which resulted in the little girl being temporarily moved to stay with relatives in the region. That didn’t mean she would be taken away from her daughter for good, but first she had to stabilize and manage her illness in order to be a good mother and care for such a little girl who needs her.
Russell’s efforts were not in vain. Without him, no one could have foreseen what had happened. Russell’s decision that day saved the young girl’s life. He could have chosen to ignore her cries for help, but he didn’t. He helped her out of the vehicle, checked on her, and called for help. He was in the right place at the right time and, as a result, became a hero to the girl, her mother, and everyone there. The world needs more men like him—ordinary people who suddenly become superheroes without capes.
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