"Fearless Five" save drowning woman

THIS ONE WILL have you believing in miracles, and in the heroics of ordinary people one grateful woman has dubbed "The Fearless Five."

Cheryl Allison was driving home to Yeadon, Pa., one afternoon in August, her mind preoccupied with things she needed to get done after spending the weekend with her daughter in Delaware.

By the time she neared Cobbs Creek Parkway in Southwest Philadelphia, she relaxed. Plenty of time to drop off her things before running some errands and teaching a line-dancing class at the Yeadon Presbyterian Church.

She remembers feeling hot, but figured it was just the car's air conditioner acting up again.

Then everything went black.

When Allison, 60, came to, she was trapped upside down in her car, the murky water rising higher and higher around her.

"I just remember praying," she said. "And then, darkness."

Pamela Rivers and her sister, Rita Graham, had been driving on the opposite side of the parkway near Greenway Avenue, watching in horror as Allison's car jumped the curb and plunged into the creek below.

Rivers, 40, slammed on her brakes, jumped out of the car and started to run toward the creek as she yelled to her sister to call the police: "Get help! Get help!"

Rivers, a former social worker for the school district, had teased her sister earlier in the day about her bright pink dress.

"I told her, 'You must want attention.' " As it turned out, she recalled with a laugh, it was exactly what was needed to get motorists to stop.

She waved down contractor Kenneth Gibson, 23, and his brother-in-law, Taron Green, 27. Gibson, despite not being able to swim and nearly drowning when he was 9 years old, barreled toward the creek below.

"I still remember what it was like to not be able to breathe," he said. "I knew what she was probably going through if she was still alive."

But was she alive?

Marcell Porter, an auto-body shop worker, was the next to stop and rush to the creek where he used to swim as a child.

For a few exhausting moments, the men desperately tried to flip the car over in an attempt to drag Allison out. They tried to get her out of the open driver's side window but she was strapped in. So they broke a back window and tried to drag her out that way. But she was still stuck. Finally, they were able to cut her free. But she was limp and lifeless.

"I thought, after all that, she's dead," Porter said.

Rivers and Graham were near the road waiting for the ambulance. Rivers yelled down to them to do CPR. What she didn't know is that none of the men was sure how to do it.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Porter asked Gibson.

"No, but we're going to try," Gibson said, pumping on Allison's chest as Porter breathed into her mouth.

They tried once, then twice, but nothing.

"At that point, I thought we were beating on a corpse," Porter said.

They agreed to try one more time, and after a few moments, Allison hiccupped and moved her hand.

"I sat down on the creek bed and cried a little and thanked God for giving us the strength to save her life," Gibson said.

But it wasn't until the next day, after Allison's daughter reached out to them through Facebook and they went to the hospital to visit her, that the five knew for sure that she was alive.

"There were more tears than words," Rivers said. "All of us had an extremely difficult time trying to sleep that night. It was a really scary thing to see. She was dead, she was gone, and then she wasn't."

Allison was at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for about a week. She said doctors weren't able to tell her what caused her to black out. She suffered a fractured sternum and several fractured ribs. Lower back pain makes it difficult for her to walk, but she hopes to get back to teaching line-dancing soon. She also plans to continue her relationship with her new extended family.

"I've always believed in miracles, but I never knew that one would arrive on my doorstep," she said. "I don't know how to repay them other than love them like they're my own."

On Saturday, the group will gather with family and friends at the Yeadon Borough Hall for a celebration to honor Allison's heroes and to raise money for Allison's recovery.

In addition to hospital bills, Allison, who is self-employed, lost the music equipment that was in her car during the accident. (For information, call Allison's daughter Marquita Taylor at 302-981-2335.)

For their part, the "Fearless Five" are grateful for the recognition but insist anyone in their situation would have done the same.

"I mean, right?" Gibson said. "I hope the world isn't that bad."

Still, when Gibson drives on Cobbs Creek Parkway, he allows himself a few thoughts.

"This is where we saved a life," he reminds himself. "This is where we made a difference."

Phone: 215-854-5943

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