***Heroes Celebrated at Red Cross Breakfast***

The Red Cross honored heroes from around the state this morning at a breakfast event that was held at SNHU in Manchester. The room was filled with families, friends, and heroes who were all there to celebrate the amazing things that these people had done.

WMUR's Amy Coveno emceed the event as Governor Hassan, members of the military, and Red Cross volunteers looked on. Here are the heroes:

Kellie Barr-Foster: Kellie was rock climbing in Barrington when she heard cries for help coming from a pond nearby. There she found Steven Travis who's boat had sunk and he was stuck in the pond due to the amount of water that was filling his waders. Kellie jumped into the water and pulled him to safety, keeping him afloat until the rescue team could get there.

Chris Bridge: Chris has been going to the Red Cross and donating platelets for 13 years straight. Donating platelets takes a special kind of person. You have to take hours out of your day and sit completely immobile while the donation is happening. You cannot move either of your arms and you become very cold (you are given a nice thick blanket to keep warm however). Chris has been going to the Red Cross early in the morning and donates before going on with his day and has done this for the last 13 years. There is no telling how many people he has helped by doing this but I am sure it amounts to a lot.

Robin Comstock: Robin was driving down the road one day when she saw a head-on collision in front of her. When she saw that no one else was stopping to help she jumped into action. She found a woman in her car who was badly injured and her teenage daughter in the passenger's seat. Robin pulled the daughter out and sent her with another person that had jumped in to help and then went around to console the driver and try to stop the bleeding until the paramedics arrived.

Waterville Valley Academy Staff : 14 year old Chris had been practicing one morning at Waterville Valley. He told his coach that he needed to take a break. His coach saw him sit down, noticed he didn't look well, and then saw him slump over. He started CPR as soon as he realized that Chris had no pulse and was not breathing. Other members of the staff ran in to help and one had an AED (a portable defibrillator to shock the heart back into a rhythm). After one shock he took a breath. They had saved his life with the AED and their quick actions.

Soldier of the Fox Company 1-169th AV of the NH National Guard: The soldiers of the Fox Company did something that had never been done before. They did a blood transfusion while still in the air on a Medflight aircraft. This is now called Vampire and whenever they heard that over the radio they jumped into action. They have performed over 500 of these life-saving flights and have helped to perfect the craft to teach other companies.

It was an amazing event, the media was there in full force including Nazzy and Mya from WJYY who were broadcasting live from the event, WMUR, the Union Leader, and myself (Lol, yep, I am going to consider myself a media person especially since my job was in the press room).

Congratulations to all of the heroes on a job very well done. I look forward to photographing this event again next year as it is very inspiring to be around such amazing people. It doesn't take a lot to be a hero, it just takes a little courage and compassion.