N.H. National Guard Sergeant`s Quick Thinking With a Bottle of Coke Saved Woman

May 01--When Susan Robbins met the man who saved her life last winter, she gave him a bottle of Coca-Cola.

It was the perfect thank-you gift.

On Dec. 6, New Hampshire Army National Guardsman Staff Sgt. Mark Hickey of Gilmanton Iron Works was on his way to work in Manchester when he came upon a single-car crash on Route 140 in Gilmanton.

Robbins' Toyota Camry had hit some black ice, slid across the road and hit a parked truck before rolling over. The car was upside down and Robbins, her face bloodied, was unconscious inside.

Another passerby had stopped and was calling 911. Hickey checked the driver but was afraid that moving her could injure her further.

Then the engine compartment caught fire.

Hickey ran back to his truck. "The only thing I had was a bottle of Coke, so I shook it up and used it like a fire extinguisher and sprayed down the car."

"Thankfully, it worked."

He then got down on the ground to comfort Robbins, who had regained consciousness. "I just held her hand and talked to her until the police and paramedics arrived," he said.

Hickey's quick thinking and selfless courage will be recognized this Wednesday at the Union Leader Hero Awards.

The Hero Awards honor New Hampshire residents who have risked their lives in the previous year to save or attempt to save the life of another person. The program is sponsored by Citizens Bank and presented by the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Hickey, who served in Iraq in 2004 and Kuwait in 2010, is a training officer for the Guard -- and a reluctant hero. "I'm not a big one for the spotlight," he said. "I'd rather just kind of put my head down and be off to the sideline."

"But I am definitely honored that somebody has taken the time to recognize this."

Hickey said he had to act that day. "I couldn't stand to see her burn," he said.

Robbins, who also lives in Gilmanton Iron Works, plans to attend Wednesday's State House ceremony with her husband, Tim, who is a firefighter and paramedic in Barnstead. "I'll be crying and I'll be cheering," she said.

Robbins and Hickey met about a month after the crash. She brought him a 2-liter bottle of Coke to replace the one he used to save her life.

Meeting him, she said, was "surreal."

"To meet somebody who is a hero to our country, doing what he does -- and he's my own hero -- it was an honor."

Robbins, who was on her way to her job at the New Hampshire Humane Society in Laconia that December morning, still doesn't remember the crash -- and her husband won't let her look at photos of her car. But she said it has changed her life.

"I have realized that life is short and there's no room for any anger. Impatience is gone," she said. "I'm grateful that I'm here."

Robbins said she owes Hickey her life. "I think about him every day, and I thank God for him every day," she said.

There's something else about the day of the crash. Gilmanton Police Chief Matthew Currier heard about it from his officer who responded to the scene.

The officer looked up, and over the demolished vehicle, a tree had fallen into another tree, making the shape of a cross, the chief said.

"He told me it was the weirdest thing," Currier said.

Hickey, who has been in the Army Guard for 26 years, has been through traumatic experiences before. His Guard unit lost a soldier, Spc. Alan Burgess of Landaff, when they were serving in Iraq in 2004.

Still, the crash has affected him, too. "It does make you realize that everything can be gone in a second," he said. "It makes you appreciate things more."

"Because her life changed in a second. She's just on her way into town and next thing you know, she's upside down in a car."

These days, Hickey said, he keeps a fire extinguisher in his truck. "Just in case."

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Recipients of the 2016 Union Leader Hero Awards will be honored at a State House ceremony on Wednesday at 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Shannon Sullivan, community relations manager, at 206-7833 or ssullivan@unionleader.com.

Copyright 2016 - The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester