Heroes honored at breakfast

BANGOR – Driving home from work one day last summer, John Skillings of Brooks had nothing more on his mind than spending time with his children.

But all that changed abruptly after he spotted 12-year-old Rachel Martin lying in the middle of the road.

Bicycling down a steep hill, the Monroe girl accidentally had slammed into a guardrail on the side of the road, tearing her right leg from hip to knee and severing both a vein and an artery.

“I don’t even remember getting out of my truck,” said Skillings, who quickly tore off his shirt, wrapped it around the sobbing girl’s leg and applied pressure until the ambulance arrived.

“My instincts just kicked in -with four kids, you just know if something’s bleeding, you’ve got to stop it,” said Skillings, whose quick thinking probably saved Rachel’s life, according to doctors.

Like the other Maine residents who were lauded Wednesday during the fourth annual American Red Cross Real Heroes Breakfast, Skillings seemed nonplused by the recognition.

“I’m glad I did what I did, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he said.

Held at the Bangor Civic Center, the event drew approximately 700 people, some of whom were moved to tears at the courage and selflessness displayed by the “real heroes.”

“We often overlook the role models and success stories in our own back yard,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins told the crowd.

“The people we honor here this morning did something extraordinary. Not because they wanted to win anything, or because a camera was rolling, or because they wanted anyone to buy a ticket or cast a vote.

“They did what they did because someone needed them, because they cared enough to make a difference,” she said.

Others named “real heroes” were:

. Sara Boyorak, a Bangor High School student who performed CPR on her 2-year-old nephew after he experienced convulsions and stopped breathing due to complications from an ear infection in July, 1999.

. Jeff Fahey and Bruce Morse, the Bangor High health teachers who taught Sara and the rest of her class how to perform CPR and American Red Cross lifesaving skills.

. Nurses at Eastern Maine Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit whose compassion and skill enable premature infants to survive.

. Ernest Lawford of Hampden who crawled out onto the partially frozen Kenduskeag Stream last January to rescue a tiny terrier stranded in the moving water. He then transported Keesha the dog to a veterinarian for emergency care.

. Michelle Baker of Pittsfield, who, after hearing a man calling for help last June, jumped into Sibley Pond and threw a life jacket around his neck. Even though he was tied to a 12-foot boat that was almost completely submerged, she managed to tow him to within 15 feet of shore when help arrived.

. And Waldo County Sheriff Robert Jones, a member of the Unity Volunteer Fire Department, who suffered a fatal heart attack last January while trying to rescue three small boys trapped inside a burning house.