Mail carrier saves customer's life
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JUNCTION CITY, Ore. -- John Knebel spent four days lying his floor.
"I thought the floor was awful hard," Knebel said.
He had no food and no water. His phone and lifeline were out of reach. The 91 year old was dehydrated and thought he might die.
"I was laying pretty much on my shoulder and my right hip," Knebel said, "and it seemed like I couldn't roll over,"
Help finally arrived on Thursday.
Just who called for help is even more remarkable.
His mail carrier, Gina Russo-Dreiling, has been delivering Knebel's mail six days a week for seven months. She said she would see Knebel mowing his lawn and working in his garden. She also knew that Knebel always picked up his mail.
Russo-Dreiling first started to noticing something was wrong on Tuesday when Knebel hadn't picked up his mail. On Wednesday Russo-Dreiling came back. The letters and bills were still there and starting to pile up. Russo-Dreiling got out of her truck and knocked on his door.
"I couldn't sleep that night," Russo-Dreiling said. "So Thursday morning, as soon as I got in, I talked to the postmaster."
Russo-Dreiling saved Knebel's life. She called 9-1-1 for help, and police arrived to rescue the 91-year-old man who had fallen and could not get up. The found Knebel dehydrated and semi-conscious. He was rushed to the hospital where he was revived.
Talking for the first time
The two had never actually talked until Sunday in front of our cameras.
"I'm Gina, your mail carrier," Russo-Dreiling said to Knebel. "When you didn't pick it up, I got very worried."
"I think that's pretty darn nice," Knebel said.
Nurses said Knebel keeps getting better everyday. His brother told us Knebel has a few bruises from lying on the floor for so long. However, he is going to be fine.
"My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner," Russo-Dreiling said.
But Russo-Dreiling did make that call, delivering a lot more than Knebel's mail.
"Now I'm going to have to look at you real closely," Russo-Dreiling said to Knebel with a chuckle. "If you don't pick it up for one day you are going to have me calling the police on you."
