In 2016, retired Marine John Cunningham walked into a rural West Virginia paramedic station as he experienced chest pains. Paramedic Kristi Hadfield loaded John into an ambulance and when his heart stopped on the way to the hospital, Kristi directed the driver to pull over immediately as she began chest compressions, restarting his heart and delivering him to the hospital where he recovered.
Kristi makes it a habit to check in on her former patients. Through a Facebook request, she connected with John and, shortly thereafter, his daughter Molly Jones: “Of course, I needed to know who saved my dad’s life,” she said.
The two women remained friends online, and when Molly posted about her Stage 4 renal failure diagnosis in 2022, Kristi came to the family’s aid a second time, messaging Molly: “I’ve got your kidney.”
Jones, whose daughter is afflicted with the same kidney-cyst disorder, is eternally grateful for Kristi:
“My daughter is my entire life, and because of Kristi, I’m going to get to see my daughter graduate, I’m going to get to see her go to college, I’m going to get to see who she grows up to be. I don’t know how you properly thank someone for that.
