When former Kalamazoo Central High School wide receiver Phillip Banks devoted his life to the game of football, he probably never thought those skills would help him to save a life.
But they did.
The biggest catch of this football star’s life ended not taking place on the football field but outside an apartment complex.
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The retired U.S. Marine caught a 3-year-old that was dropped from a third-floor balcony of a burning apartment building.
And the video of it ended up going viral.
Blanks was heading out for a morning workout with a friend when he heard screaming in his apartment complex.
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“People were screaming ‘there are kids up there’ and to throw the kids down,” Blanks told WWMT West Michigan. “I saw another guy was standing there ready to catch the boy, but he didn’t look like he was going to do it, so I stepped in front of him. The way I caught him damaged his foot, but the most important thing is his head was safe.”
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He said the child was “twirling like a helicopter” when he caught the boy.
A bystander videoed Blanks catching the baby as he falls to the ground, then jumps up and runs away from the burning building with the child.
Neighbors then wrapped the child in blankets. The video also shows the boy’s mother, Rachel Long, throwing her son named Jameson over the balcony so that the neighbors could catch him.
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Blanks said that Long is the real hero in this story.
After dropping her youngest from the window, she went back into the apartment while she was on fire to go back for her 8-year-old daughter.
Long, however, didn’t return and didn’t survive the fire.
A second good Samaritan, D’Artagnan Alexander was heading to the salon where he works as a barber when he saw people screaming and flames coming out of the building.
Alexander immediately parked and jumped out of the car to help.
“I have a 3-year-old and a 9-year-old, so when I heard there were kids in there, that really hit my heart,” said told The Wall Street Journal.
He ran into the burning building and up to the third floor where the hall was burning hot and filled with smoked.
Thankfully, he was able to find the girl, whose name is Roxxi, and safely bring her out of the building.
“I heard someone scream for help and I found the girl on the floor and carried her outside,” Alexander said.
“Everything happened so fast,” he said. ‘I didn’t have time to think, my body just kicked into action and I went in.”
More than 100 firefighters were called to the scene where eight apartment units were on fire.
The children’s father, Core Long who was at work during the fire, was very grateful to the two men for rescuing his children who had to be hospitalized. Roxxi will require several surgeries.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family. About $194,500 of their $200,000 has been raised here so far.
The family is asking for prayers for the children so that they recover quickly.
“Rachel, 30, was a mother, a wife, a sister, daughter, and granddaughter. She was a beautiful, spirited young woman who always lived life fully and on her own terms. She was the light of her daddy’s life. She is truly a hero. She made the ultimate sacrifice for her children,” their GoFundMe page reads.
“Corey, her husband, has no home now and both children are currently hospitalized. He is facing costs of at least 8 surgeries for Roxxi. Please contribute if you feel led to help the Long family in these horrific times. They need our prayers and our finances.”
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