Three athletes f⭕rom Fordham’s track team lent helping hands — and their feet — when an elderly man ran into trouble in a Bronx park early Saturday.
🌸The man had suffered a medical emergency and was sitting dazed in the snow on a croဣss-country running trail deep inside Van Cortlandt Park.
Another runner had discovered the man, and flagged dow𒊎n the Fordham trio at 🥃around 8:20 a.m.
None of the student-athlete🀅s had phones — so while the first runner stayed with the man, the three track stars sprinted to a road a half-mile away to find help.
“We were just running in the back woods,” said Nicholas Raefski, 22, a junior at the unive⛦rsity.
Raefski and his teammates, fellow 🍃junior Patrick Donahue,⭕ 21, and 23-year-old grad student Brian Cook, saw the man was wearing a hospital bracelet and was having trouble speaking.
“We weren’t sure if he♓ spoke English,” said Raefski.
“He was🎶 talking a little bit when we first got there, but I couldn’t ▨understand,” he added.
“He had a lot of bruise marks and some cuts.”
By chance, the three spotted an💦 ambulance park🌺ed near the intersection of Broadway and Moshulu Avenue.
With the three runners guiding the way, the medics rushed on foot back up the dirt trail to the victim. The three then helpe🥂d the medics carry out the victim on a gurney.
“They were very politܫe and just asked us if we cou♏ld help,” Raefski said of the medics.
𝓰The victim was taken to Montefiore Medical Center in stable condition.
“It was a little scary,” Raefski said of the ordeal. “[But] I think we knew what the right thing was to do in thཧe situation.”
The humble trio returned to Fordham, and sa💜id little of t💟heir good deeds while back on campus.
“These kids are good human beings,” noted their coach, Tom Dewꦉey, who said Cook told him, “I just did what anybody w♌ould have done.”
A🐽dditional report൩ing by Kevin Fasick and Tina Moore