Several years ago, Mike Hughes was a captain with the Wenatchee, Washington, fire department when he and his units responded to a house fire. When they arrived, it was burning bad, and somebody, they were quickly told, was still in that house.

Mike ran into the burning house and made his way to a bedroom, and there he found a little baby in her crib, squirming. So he snatched her up and ran back out of the house, as it continued to burn to the ground.

Courtesy of Mike Hughes

That rescue stuck in Mike’s mind, like it probably would anyone else’s. So, at times through the years, Mike would check on that young girl, named Dawnielle, and when she was a teen-ager, he messaged her that he was the one who pulled her out of that burning house.

Then, he would attend some of her track meets and root her on, and occasionally he would run into her and her step-dad at the hardware store. And each time he would see her, his heart would swell with pride. She was the one so many years ago whose life he held in his gloved hands. She was the one so tender… so fragile, and he was able to save her from the house burning around her.

A while back, Mike received something he just did not expect; he received an invitation to Dawnielle’s graduation. She wanted the man who had risked his own life to save hers almost 18 years ago to be there when she accomplished a great milestone. And for Mike, there was nothing that could keep him from it.

Courtesy of Dawnielle Davison

Source: hrtwarming.com