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VERNAL — Landon Gleason doesn't remember the marching band or the waving flags or the big orange dinosaur that were part of Vernal's Independence Day parade.
"I remember we parked, and then I remember walking there, and I remember seeing a cotton candy truck," the 9-year-old said Tuesday.
Shortly after spotting that cotton candy truck, Landon began exhibiting unusual behavior. He tried to take someone else's chair, claiming it was his. Then his body went rigid and he started to convulse.
"He does have a history of seizures," said Landon's mom, Jaime McKee.
But Landon wasn't with his mom. She had to work, so he and his two younger siblings were at the parade with their grandmother and great-grandmother.
With no hesitation, he jumped up and started walking with them.
–Jaime McKee
The women gathered up the kids — Landon carried by his grandmother, his sister carried by his great-grandmother — and headed to the car. Just as the older woman started having a hard time breathing, she spotted a man in white bandana.
"She said, 'Will you please help me?' and he said, 'Of course,'" McKee said.
"With no hesitation, he jumped up and started walking with them," she added.
The man even carried McKee's daughter to the spot where the family had parked, about a half block from their place on the parade route.
McKee was trying to get there, too, but there was a problem: Her mother and grandmother live in Grand Junction, Colo., aren't familiar at all with Vernal and couldn't tell McKee where they were.
Totally lost, Landon's grandmother handed her cellphone to the anonymous good Samaritan.
"He told me exactly where they were, and I was able to get there in 30 seconds and take my son to the hospital," McKee said.
He got the medication really promptly and didn't need to be in the hospital for a long time.
–Dr. Ethan Pettit
The fast response helped doctors put a quick end to Landon's seizure, something his pediatrician said was critical.
"He got the medication really promptly and didn't need to be in the hospital for a long time," Dr. Ethan Pettit said.
"It's a great asset to have people in the community that are willing to drop everything and help somebody who needs it," the doctor added.
McKee said she's grateful to the man who stepped up when her son needed help, and she'd like to tell him that in person. In the rush to get Landon to the hospital, she never got the man's name.
"We would all appreciate meeting him," McKee said. "This was the first seizure we were able to stop so quickly, so we would just like to say thank you."
