Real-Life Heroes Honored By Oakland County Sheriff's Department

PONTIAC (WWJ) - Some real-life heroes have been honored by the Oakland County Sheriff's office Tuesday.

Nearly 30 people were recognized as citizen heroes for either helping someone in a crisis or for saving lives.

James Becker of Rochester Hills was among them. He found a woman jogger just outside his door who had collapsed.

"I didn't know it at the time but what she had was ... an aortic dissection and most people, by the time they get to the hospital and get diagnosed don't live. Luckily, she got some good medical help when she got there and she survived," said Becker.

Two men were honored for resuscitating a two-year-old girl after she nearly drowned in a pool last June.

Eighteen-year old Michael Zuke of Rochester Hills held his award proudly thinking back to the day last June when he and a co-worker resuscitated a little girl who fell into a pool at a country club where he worked as a life guard.

"I immediately checked her vitals and began CPR and about a minute later my friend Brett ... showed up and we did two-man CPR; where I was doing chest compressions and he was doing rescue breathes and we resuscitated her and she lives today," smiled Zuke.

Zuke said his adrenaline was pumping for another 48 hours after: "It was pretty unreal," he said.

"I was in tears that day ... I was just so happy it turned out the way it did and that he remembered all of his training," said Zuke's dad, Bob.