Two Canadians are among the latest recipients of the Carnegie Medal for risking their lives to save others in 2009.
Michael Sharpe of Spruce Grove, Alta., and Gheorghita Rusu of Ottawa were among the 21 people named Wednesday by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission to receive the award, given to civilians in Canada and the U.S. who perform outstanding acts of heroism. Sharpe, 35, saved fellow Albertan Marc Bissonnette from a burning tractor-trailer carrying jet fuel after it rolled off the road after an accident with another truck on Sept. 29, 2009. According to a description of the rescue on the Carnegie website, Sharpe climbed atop the burning truck's cab and pulled the door open just enough for Bissonnette to escape. In doing so, Sharpe suffered third-degree burns that required hospital treatment. Bissonnette also survived.
Rusu, 21, was working at a pharmacy when he heard a woman screaming behind the store on Nov. 6, 2009. He walked out to find Brenda Van Layan, 42, being stabbed repeatedly by a man.R usu tried to restrain the man, but was stabbed in the process and ran back into the pharmacy to call the police for help.
Van Layan was treated in hospital for numerous stab wounds and survived; Rusu also received hospital treatment. The Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Heroes Fund was started in 1904 by steel baron Andrew Carnegie, who was inspired after hearing rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people.
Since then, more than $32.9 million US has been awarded to 9,412 people.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/12/22/carnegie-medal-heroism.html#ixzz18sf3eVdV
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