TRUE HEROES
The heroes who ran towards danger to save the lives of strangers up for Who Cares Wins award
IT’S the fight or flight moment we all dread.
But these heroes are the ones who run towards the danger - and for their incredible bravery they have been nominated for a Who Cares Wins award.
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These finalists in the Ultimate Lifesaver category have all put their own lives on the line to save others.
They include dedicated paramedics and everyday heroes - and have all made an extraordinary impact.
The winner will be honoured in a televised star-studded ceremony later this month.
Here we reveal the finalists.
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Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole
BRAVE Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole didn’t hesitate to dive into the freezing River Thames to save a woman back in April after hearing her desperate cries.
It was an act of heroism that would cost him his life - but his parents will hold their humble son ‘Jimi’ in their hearts forever.
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Who Cares Wins awards
The Who Cares Wins awards honour those who have helped take care of the nation.
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Heartbroken dad Michael, 63, told The Sun: “Jimi is the hero of all heroes.
“We never imagined something like this would happen to our son, but we thank God that he is being honoured in this way because Jimi really is the Ultimate Lifesaver.
“I know that the moment he heard that woman screaming, he would not have thought twice – he would have jumped straight into the water because that was his nature.
“I know that many people carried on walking when they heard that woman’s cries for help, but not our son.
“He never thought about himself, only of other people, and we are so proud of the boy we raised.
“He actually saved two people that night because he stopped his friend, who could not swim, from jumping in after him.”
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Jimi was heading home after a 12-hour shift working as a waiter at London’s exclusive Cinnamon Club when he heard screams ringing out across London Bridge.
A woman was trapped in the icy water and shouting: “Help, I’m going to die.”
He took off his shirt then dived in accompanied by chef Joaquín García, 21, who had also heard the woman’s cries.
Jimi is believed to have gotten into trouble as he carried out the rescue attempt in pitch black darkness.
The coast guard and Met Police's marine unit were able to save the woman and Joaquin but they could not locate Jimi for another six hours, by which point it was too late.
He was nominated for the award by his uncle Olumide Wole-Maderiola - who lost his own son Malcolm to knife crime - who argues that his nephew’s "bravery and selfless actions" should be recognised.
Olumide, 54, said: “Jimi was an amazingly kind and considerate young man and he is the ultimate lifesaver.”
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Great North Air Ambulance Service
DARREN Crumpler was a student skydiver when he took his 15th jump on July 14, 2019.
But it went drastically wrong and he ended up flying into the side of a house at 35mph, where his parachute got caught on a television aerial.
He was left dangling in excruciating pain following the incident at Shotton Colliery, County Durham.
Thankfully, medics from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) were called to the scene and quickly came to Darren’s rescue.
GNAAS paramedic Paul Burnage recalls: “It looked like something from a cartoon but was clearly a very serious incident and one which he was lucky to survive.”
Dr Dion Arbid also helped Darren down.
Quickly realising that Darren had broken his femur and was suffering from internal bleeding, Dr Arbid administered fake plasma blood to keep Darren alive.
He then reset his foot and elbow before transporting Darren to hospital via an air ambulance.
Dr Arbid remembers arriving on the scene.
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He says: “His leg was very nasty, he had an open ankle fracture and was dripping blood down the house.
"Despite everything, Darren was actually quite amusing and jovial.”
GNAAS airlifted Darren, 52, to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where he stayed for 10 weeks.
He suffered a shattered heel, open fractured ankle, broken femur, burst L5 bone in his spine, fractured pelvis plus a shattered and open fractured elbow.
Darren, from Catterick in North Yorkshire, said: “I would like to thank Dion and the GNAAS for the great job that they do.
“I believe I would have died if it wasn’t for their selflessness, dedication towards the job that they obviously get great satisfaction from doing.
“Words cannot describe how I feel, but to me they’re all heroes. I would like to say, thank you.”
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Raj Mann
FOR 27 minutes, paramedic Raj Mann fought one of the biggest battles of his career.
Eighteen-year-old nursery nurse Omar Akoto had collapsed at home with a suspected heart attack and his elder brother Ramone, 23, immediately called 999 and began performing CPR.
Within minutes Raj, 57, was on the scene and immediately leapt into action.
He said: “Omar had no pulse and wasn’t breathing when I arrived. As a solo responder you learn to improvise so I got his brother to do CPR so I could check Omar out and see what was happening.
Raj was quickly joined by other paramedics and they tried to restart Omar’s heart with a defibrillator as they fought for nearly half an hour to bring him back.
Raj, from Clifton, in Bedfordshire, who has been in the ambulance service for 11 years, said: “We were joined by an incident response officer, two ambulances and an advanced paramedic.
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“So we were lucky to have the right resources at the right time. It all lined up for Omar and we were lucky enough to get him back.
“We shocked him with a defibrillator and he stabilised. We did an ECG to check his heart and there were irregularities. The family were there and we were updating them to the procedures we were doing and why we were doing them so they are kept in the loop.
“In our training it is drummed into us that we don’t give up.”
Omar was in a coma for more than a month and now suffers memory loss and is registered as blind.
His mum Diana, 50, from Bushy, Herts, nominated him for the award for saving her 20-year-old son’s life.
The support worker said: “Raj and the whole team were excellent. Raj has popped round regularly to see how Omar has been getting on.
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“He is amazing and he says we are family now.”
Raj added: “I was overwhelmed by being nominated. There were seven of us there and this is for all of us.”
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