Paxton Galvanek

On November 23, 2007, Paxton Galvanek and his wife were driving down I-
40 in North Carolina when they saw an SUV overturn and catch fire.
Leaving his wife to call 911, Galvanek raced to remove the trapped
passengers from their burning vehicle. After getting everyone to safety,
Galvanek noticed that the SUV’s driver was bleeding profusely due to two
severed fingers.
With no formal medical training to draw on, Galvanek remembered medical
simulators from the video game America’s Army, which had explained the
procedure for dealing with severe bleeding. Since the game was designed
as a recruiting tool by the US Army, the medical simulator was based on
actual combat medic training and his experience playing the game allowed
Galvanek to prevent the driver from bleeding out.

Although many media outlets focused on the video game aspect, let’s not
lose sight of how brave it was to run to a burning vehicle to rescue horribly
injured passengers in the first place.