It was the night of Dec. 2, 2019 during a routine drive home on the QEII highway for two strangers.
Harry Osborne and Kevin Moore were travelling down the road at the same time, neither of them knowing their lives were about to intersect in the most profound way.
“All I remember is I was driving south and sparks were flying everywhere so I guessed I had a flat tire and I tried to squeeze into the centre median.
“That’s when I hit the centre poles,” Osborne said.
He has very vague memories of what happened but several Good Samaritans who saved him are able to fill in the blanks.
Harry’s truck on fire.Moore was driving with his son Chad, while friends Steve Dowie and Greg Patzer were in the backseat.
They noticed smoke wafting from the front of Osborne’s pickup and they pulled over to help.
They soon realized he was trapped and his truck was on fire.
“When we jumped out, the flames were just coming out of the front grill.
“By the time I crossed lanes, the flames got up to the windshield. It was red and I thought to myself: ‘We’ve got to get out of here right now,” Moore said.
“He was panicked. That’s when he said, ‘Don’t let me die.'”
Dowie and Patzer helped keep Osborne away from his burning truck.
“It was a real eye opener when we saw the flames,” Dowie said. “Didn’t realize he was in that much danger.”
After meeting with Osborne’s wife, daughter, son and grandson, they can’t ignore the impact of what they did.
“What if we went another route? What if we hadn’t stopped? That’s what keeps coming back to my mind,” Patzer said.
“If we hadn’t stopped, this would have been the worst day of our life,” Moore said. “I knew everybody in that truck was thinking that.”
Douglas Osborne, Harry’s son, wanted to express his gratitude to these men.
“Just to put a face to the story and thank them and shake their hands,” he said. “Life is short and you never know when it’s your time to go but thankfully, thank God, it wasn’t his turn to go this time.”
“I’m not a religious guy but I do believe that God was up there looking down saying, ‘This is one soul I’m going to save,’ and he sent my saviors, my angels,” Harry Osborne said.
“Thanks to all you guys, I’m here and my family has a grandpa and a father.”
Osborne is off work, still recovering from the trauma of the crash. His family has set up a gofundme page.
The heroes and Osborne plan on getting together again soon.
“It was a powerful feeling we stopped to pull over,” Moore said. “To see how it impacts Harry’s life and the connection we built, that truly is heartwarming.”
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