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Tania Gibson was in the middle of taking a test toward her
Registered Nurse’s license when her telephone rang the
afternoon of Feb. 15. At first Tania, LPN, who works on the
Progressive Care Unit at Cape Coral Hospital, ignored the
ringing phone.
Then, something told her to pick up the telephone. Her
10-year-old nephew was on the other line. “He was very
excited. All he said was that there was a fire, and Tim
(Tania’s husband) went to the hospital,” says Tania.
Tania gathered up her young son and raced to Lee Memorial
Hospital. “As I was driving, I just had this feeling that
everything was going to be OK,” she says.
It was. Her husband, Tim, had minor injuries. However, his
story is incredible.
Tim sustained minor smoke inhalation when he crawled through
the window of a burning house in southwest Cape Coral to
save a 19-month-old girl. “I saw this house across the
street totally engulfed in flames, and there was a father
panicking outside. He was screaming that his kids were in
the house,” says Tim. “I couldn’t believe it. The house was
totally engulfed.”
Tim and his stepmother threw rocks through the bedroom
window of the home to break the glass. The father climbed
through the window and found his two-year-old daughter.
Then, Tim climbed in and started looking for the
19-month-old little girl
still in the burning home. “When I first got in, the smoke
was so thick that I couldn’t see or breathe. I was crawling
with my nose pressed to the carpet, and I had to go back to
the window for air.”
Tim found the young child on his second trip through the
bedroom and raced her outside. “I had that panicked father
mode going on. The whole time I was searching, I just kept
hoping she would still be alive. I was having such a tough
time in there, and she had been inside much longer,” he says
of the young girl.
Both little girls spent a few days in the hospital but are
doing well, he says. The family is also rebuilding their
home.
Tim’s stepmother injured her hand clearing away the glass in
the window and also went to the Emergency Department with
minor injuries. Tim praised the staff at LMH, saying they
were wonderful during their care. “It’s like an out of body
experience,” Tim says several weeks later. “You always try
to think what you would do if something like that happens,
but you never think it’s going to happen,” he says.
But Tania wasn’t the least bit surprised. “I know my
husband. If anyone is in trouble, he will jump in to help.
He had wanted to be a firefighter at one time,” Tania says
proudly.
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