17 years ago, firefighter Mike Hughes saved then infant, Dawnielle Davison, from a burning home. Now, after almost two decades, the girl invited the retired Washington firefighter to her graduation.
In 1998, Mike Hughes who is now 61-year-old was captain with Wenatchee fire department when he responded to an emergency call. What happened next was a “pretty perfect” rescue as Mr. Hughes recalls. The hero also admits it is very “rare” for such a story to have a happy ending.
“I sent her a note that said ‘I think I pulled you out of a fire when you were a baby.’ And she gave me a test…she wrote back “Oh yeah, what was my mom doing?” the firefighter told ABC News.
Hughes noted, “It was really cool for her to invite me. For her to acknowledge me, and be happy about it, that’s just really special. I thought, boy, that’s one cool kid.”
He continued, “I thought, ‘I wonder if that baby I pulled out of that fire is still alive and kicking.’ So I just got on Facebook and looked her name up and presto, there she was. I thought it would be fun to say hi. I was really curious more than anything.”
Dawnielle was grateful “someone like that, who saved me, cared enough” to follow up on how her life was going.
“It’s a miracle that I did come out of that [fire],” she said. “I feel like I owe him so much. It’s just amazing that I have got to meet the guy who saved my life. I just can’t thank him enough. There are way too many words to describe how much I could thank him.”
“I don’t know really how to describe it, they’re happy tears, to realize some things could have gone wrong,” Dawnielle added.
Photos courtesy of Courtesy of Dawnielle Davison.
