'Our angel': Georgia UPS driver saves woman who suffered brain bleed, gains family

Raheem Cooper was working his UPS delivery route on Aug. 12 when he saw something off.

It was 2:00 in the afternoon and pretty hot in the Valdosta, Georgia neighborhood he was driving through. As he drove by, he saw a woman lying on the ground. He noticed the front door of her home was open, as was her car door.

He did a double take and noticed there was blood coming from her body, the UPS driver told USA TODAY Wednesday afternoon.

“I ran to her,” the 30-year-old said, checking to see if she was conscious. “She was conscious but she couldn't get up. Her eyes were open and everything.”

He told the woman to stay still while he called for help. He checked to see if someone in her house could help but no one was there, so he called 911.

While they waited, he saw that the woman’s face was on the hot pavement, so he grabbed a bottle of water and began rubbing water on her to try to keep her cool.

Dispatchers told him not to move the woman, but he didn’t want her face to stay on the ground any longer, so he grabbed some UPS delivery bags and put them under her.

“Something in my heart, I couldn't let her just stay on that hot pavement like that,” 30-year-old Cooper said. “I just did the best I could without injuring her.”

A young lady who was also in the area stopped to help lift the woman and lean her against her car until paramedics arrived.

Woman was taking groceries into the house when she fell

Cooper said not too long after he made the call to 911, first responders arrived and put the woman on a stretcher. He picked up the woman’s things and realized she was taking groceries in the house when she fell.

“I noticed the milk was warm, so it's no telling how long she was out there,” Cooper said.

The woman, 78-year-old Marie Coble, was admitted to the hospital as Jane Doe because no one knew who she was initially, said her granddaughter, Kayla Cochran.

Cochran lives about 100 miles east of Valdosta in a city called Folkston. Hours after her grandmother was admitted, she was finally alert enough to give hospital staff her name.

Someone contacted Cochran the next day to let her know about her grandmother’s accident. They told her she had suffered from a brain bleed.

Cochran said her grandmother’s accident left her behaving as if her mind had gone back 20 years.

“She didn't know who she was, where she lived, anything,” Cochran said.

Her grandmother was stable for about six days but then was rushed back to the ICU for more procedures, including emergency brain surgery.

Once Cochran made it to the hospital to see her grandmother, she found a note Cooper had left with his phone number.

“I called him to find out exactly what happened and how he found her, and to tell him thank you for saving her life,” Cochran told USA TODAY Wednesday afternoon. “We've been connected since then.”

Since the family is going through so much and they have to travel from different cities, Cooper started a GoFundMe to help them with medical bills, rehabilitation and travel costs.

UPS driver keeps in touch with woman, says she’s like a grandmother to him now

Cooper has visited Coble at least 10 times so far and sometimes, he video calls Cochran when she can’t be there in person. Cooper has taken his mom and his daughter, 9-year-old Cali, to visit at the hospital.

Cochran called Cooper an “angel” for saving her grandmother and keeping her in the loop when she couldn't be there in person with her grandmother.

“He saved her life, and most people these days wouldn't stop to do that, unfortunately,” Cochran said. “For him to just be there in the right place at the right time and stop and help her, literally saved her life.”

Her grandmother has four sons, five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren, although she may want to add another number to that count.

“I told Miss Marie she’s my grandmother now,” Cooper said, laughing. “It's almost like they’re my family now. That's my adopted family at this point.”

Good Samaritan rewarded for saving woman’s life

Cooper has worked at UPS for 11 years, starting at the warehouse and then switching over to driving.

Once UPS found out what he had done for Coble, Cooper received an award and a letter from UPS CEO Carol Tomé. In the letter, she wrote that people like Cooper keep communities safe.

“Thank you for having the courage to jump in,” she wrote, adding that he’d been awarded a UPS Challenge Coin for “UPSers who go above and beyond.”

Cooper’s teammate also bought him tickets to a Florida State University game, he said.

Cooper said he hasn’t spoken to the young woman who helped him rescue Coble. He couldn’t get her name because she had to pick up her children from school. He thought with their story making its rounds online she would’ve reached out, but nothing yet.

He said together, they did what any decent person would do.

“That's something that I would have wanted somebody to do for my family,” Cooper said. “I just thank God I was (there) at the perfect time.”

Grandmother’s family calls UPS driver ‘our angel’

Cochran, Coble’s granddaughter, said her grandmother is strong-willed and very loving. She is doing better these days but has a long road to recovery.

She’s staying at a rehabilitation center as of Wednesday afternoon.

Their family is so grateful for Cooper’s help.

“There's nothing I could ever do to repay him for saving her and for truly being our angel,” Cochran said. “I just give my thanks to him for everything he's done and everything that he continues to do, and staying a part of our family and keeping a relationship.”

To contact Coble's family or donate to their fundraiser, visit www.tinyurl.com/MarieCoble .

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Our angel': Georgia UPS driver saves woman who suffered brain bleed, gains family