A mother and her four children, ages 12, 8, 6 and 4, were asleep when a massive fire erupted in their house. Ryan Pasborg was driving by when he smelled smoke and saw the flames. He jammed on the brakes and saw a young girl and two boys leaving the house. The three children told him that their mother and four year old little brother were still trapped inside. Without hesitation Pasborg ran into the house, but he could not see anything because of the heavy smoke. So he crawled on the floor and found the small boy whom he carried outside. 



It was extremely cold that night (minus 15 degrees), so he quickly put all four children in his truck to keep them warm before entering the burning home a second time. Crawling deeper into the house he eventually found the children’s mother lying on the floor, badly burned and struggling to breathe. He pulled her outside, but she was unresponsive and not breathing. He began life-saving resuscitation until she finally took a gasp of air. He then drove them a safe distance away from the house and waited for the firemen and emergency medics. 



The local Sheriff said, “His willingness without a second thought to risk his own life to help save this family was the difference between life and death for the young mother and her child.” “There are no words to adequately express the magnitude of Ryan’s bravery other than he is a perfect example of what it means to be a real hero.”