“It’s great being able to say thank you. And standing here is amazing,” Keene State College freshman Samuel Lachance said at a heroes ceremony at the Dublin Community Center Friday afternoon.
Father and son Marc and John Cramer of Peterborough and Bank Promploy of Keene, owner of Peterborough’s Thai Cafe, were honored by Dublin police at the ceremony for saving Lachance’s life when they pulled him from a fiery crash on Route 101 in Dublin this past January.
“It’s one of those thanks,” Lachance said. “There are no words to describe how thankful I am.”
Lachance and John Cramer, who were both 18 at the time of the crash, are now both 19 years old.
Dublin police chief Timothy Suokko thanked all the agencies that responded to the crash before awarding the three heroes individually.
“John, this award goes to you for your quick and selfless actions. Thank you for pulling him from the car,” Suokko told the Peterborough teen.
Jan. 22., the Keene State graphic design major was driving back to school after the holiday break from his home in Manchester to start his second semester there when the Jeep he was driving drifted into oncoming traffic, a tractor-trailer. After investigating the crash Dublin police concluded Lachance was likely “falling asleep or losing consciousness” when the Jeep drifted into the Mack truck.
“I was on my way to work. I was behind the tractor-trailer,” Promploy said. “From my point of view, I just saw the fireball.”
Promploy soon saw a minivan emerge from the fireball and got out of his car to help.
Marc Cramer, the driver of the minivan, said he had been driving along behind Lachance’s Jeep into Dublin from Peterborough.
“It was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky,” he said. “When Sam’s Jeep drifted over, instinctually you want to see the vehicle correct and move back, but it didn’t and in a split second there as a disbelief that this is how my life is going to end with my son. I cried out, ‘Lord, help me,’ as we went through.”
The minivan went through the fire, pushing the Jeep out of the flames as it did. Cramer called it nothing short of “Divine Providence.”
After going through the ball of fire, John Cramer said he trusted his father when he told him to pull the driver out of the Jeep.
“The adrenaline rush was so intense. I was on the verge of panic,” John Cramer said. “I just believed, ‘my dad’s going to make the right decisions and we’re going to get through this.’”
Cramer’s dash camera caught the crash and his response on video. After checking to see his son was alright he went to the Jeep and saw Lachance hanging out of the driver side window. He quickly told his son and Promploy to remove him from the Jeep. Some knowledge of basic first aid also kicked in, he said.
“They were tall enough to get him out without rotating his body,” Marc Cramer said.
They carried him to the side of the road and stayed with him until first responders arrived.
“We were praying for him every single day,” Marc Cramer said.
Lachance suffered serious injuries from the crash, including brain bleeds, burns and a fracture in his foot. He also had to have surgery to remove his spleen.
Lachance said he went from driving along the road to waking up in the hospital with his injuries, wondering how he got there. His recovery is nothing short of miraculous, he and his parents, Daniel and Jessica Lachance, said Friday.
“All the nurses that I talked to said it was miraculous too,” Lachance said.
Friday was the first time Lachance got to meet his rescuers, something he has been looking forward to, he said.
“It’s crazy seeing all the people that were there. I feel so thankful – that just – that I’m standing here. Everybody here helped so much with that and I’m so incredibly thankful. That’s the only thing that’s going through my head,” Lachance said. “For me, it is overwhelming thankfulness. It’s great to just see them. They saved my life.”
His parents were also honored to meet the men.
“Thank you, you saved my son’s life,” Daniel Lachance told the men. “I’m very grateful and humbled. … Thank God for people like you.”
Jessica Lachance said thank you doesn’t seem like enough.
“I’m never going to forget that day. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare,” she said. “What do you say to someone who saved your child. Thank you is not enough.”
She added that there is a more to the incident than just injuries sustained, she said.
“It’s a blessing, it’s a purpose,” she said.
Lachance said he is taking the rest of the school year to let his left leg and brain injury heal before heading back to Keene State College in the fall.
Lachance said he is not taking his fresh start for granted.
“This is my second chance at life. For me this is a reset,” he said.