Grandmas are wonderful people.
Leap for life from blazeI want to cry too. Posted by Ken S at April 25, 2007 12:23 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Woman jumps 15 feet to the ground, safely cradling grandson, 3.
By Bobby Caina Calvan - Bee Staff WriterJo Ann Conner stared out her upstairs window, her 3-year-old grandson cradled in her arms.
Life and death, she thought.
Smoke -- thick, gray "and stinking" -- gushed through the front door. Flames licked from behind. At her window, in the dark of night early Tuesday, she pleaded for help.
No time to wait. "It was just in a blink of an eye," she said.
Conner, 50, turned away from the window, leaned and fell backward over the edge, her grandchild, Lamareon McGee, cushioned by her bosom during the 15-foot fall.
Somehow, both survived.
"I just want to cry," Conner said Tuesday afternoon from her hospital bed at UC Davis Medical Center. "But I've got the most important thing. I've got my baby's life."
Conner prayed as she fell. "'Lord, whatever happens will happen.' " she said. "I didn't know what I was going to hit."
She landed on an air conditioning unit out back. She gashed her leg, but her grandchild was safe, Conner said.
"All I knew was that I wanted to protect him," she said. "I just wanted to protect him, my precious baby."
While she slept, at 2 a.m. Tuesday, smoke and fire began pouring out of the apartment directly below hers, at Oak Valley Apartments in North Highlands. Four units were destroyed, at least another four damaged, as residents bolted for safety.
Wow. I would have jumped facing backwards with the hopes of rolling in that direction, if at all.
She did do a leap of faith. Hitting an AC unit, she could have broken her back or head.
Very brave.
Posted by: Hoodlumman at April 25, 2007 01:40 PMi did cry. What a woman. I hope that little boy grows up knowing how blessed he is.
Posted by: caltechgirl at April 25, 2007 02:10 PMGod bless her. And God bless her grandson.
With all the stories of the horrible crap people do to each other in the world, it's heartening to hear a good one for a change.
And - on a lighter note - who knew it would be safer to land on an a/c unit than directly on the ground? At least that was how my Local News Yappers were spinning the story.
Posted by: ricki at April 25, 2007 03:00 PMWomen like her are why I don't fear aging. I may become crinklier and more gray, but I'd have the wisdom and the concept of self-sacrifice for something more important than ME to do a thing like this.
We are blessed as a people that someone so extraordinary survived to live among us.
Posted by: Emily at April 25, 2007 06:30 PMWow. Amazing.
Posted by: Cullen at April 26, 2007 06:39 AMI am freaking out. That's tremendous!
Posted by: Nightfly at April 26, 2007 07:40 AMDon't do that to a parent right before school, dude.
Posted by: Boy Named Sous at April 26, 2007 08:01 AMShe's younger than my wife, don't be talkin' old and crinkly and gray!
Posted by: DirtCrashr at April 26, 2007 08:48 AMWell, if appearance is any reflection of the soul in this case, she's surely a beautiful woman.
Posted by: ricki at April 26, 2007 09:27 AMBetween a fire and a fifteen foot fall, what choice did she really have? Every last one of us, barring a severe fear of heights, probably would have done the same thing.
Posted by: Tainted Bill at April 26, 2007 11:55 AM