DoorDash driver saves customer’s life after finding woman bleeding and unconscious in her driveway

A DoorDash driver saved her customer’s life after she found the woman bleeding from her head and passed out in her driveway.

Sophia Furtado, 26, was making a delivery to a home in Bristol County, Massachusetts, on February 11.

When she pulled into the driveway, she was horrified to find her customer, Caryn Hebert Sullivan, 55, laying unconscious with a pool of blood around her head.

Sophia quickly sprang into action, waking up Caryn’s husband, Robert, alerting authorities, using towels to stop the bleeding, and stabilizing Caryn’s neck until paramedics arrived.

The delivery driver ultimately saved the woman’s life with her swift and heroic actions, and now the two have become friends.

Sophia recalled it being a ‘normal night’ on the job before she discovered Caryn motionless in her driveway.

She was getting ready to finish her shift when her average evening suddenly took a terrifying turn.

Thankfully, Sophia – who dreamed of becoming a paramedic herself – had taken training to become an emergency medical technician four years ago.

‘It happened so fast,’ Sophia recalled to the Washington Post recently. ‘I was freaking out because I didn’t know how much longer she had.’

The DoorDash employee was able to estimate that Caryn had been unconscious for about 15 minutes since the blood had already started to congeal. 

‘You guys need to come out here right now,’ she remembered telling the dispatcher. ‘This is serious.’

As she waited for the ambulance to arrive, Sophia had Robert grab a towel in an attempt to stop the bleeding, as well as a blanket to keep Caryn warm because it was only 30 degrees that night.

And Sophia’s quick thinking may be the reason that Caryn is still alive today. 

‘The EMT training definitely helped at that very moment. If I was to take any longer or not take the steps that I took, I feel like she wouldn’t be here today,’ said Sophia.

She also told CBC’s As It Happens, ‘I wasn’t afraid to just step in. I wasn’t afraid to take care of her. It felt like it was meant to be, like I was meant to be there and I was meant to help her.’ 

Caryn wanted to wait outside for her Papa Gino’s pizza to arrive so that she didn’t wake her husband when she accidentally fell and hit her head.

‘My knee just gave out, and I went to grab the banister and I slipped,’ she told the Post. ‘I fell and hit my head.’

She recalled ‘laying in the driveway, freezing’ and seeing ‘a lot of white clouds’ before everything went blank.

Even after the ambulance arrived, Sophia continued to help the doctors treat Caryn.

‘Sophia became a part of our team to aid [Caryn]. I asked her if it was possible for her to keep stabilizing [Caryn’s] neck to keep her spine safe. Her answer was, “I’m not going anywhere,”‘ Jillian Jodoin, an officer with the Fairhaven Police Department, told the Today Show. 

The 55-year-old suffered from two brain bleeds and had to undergo emergency surgery; she was then hospitalized for three weeks after the incident.

Speaking to the Post, Caryn called the delivery driver her ‘guardian angel,’ adding that she most likely ‘would not have made it if she didn’t come.’ 

‘My neurologist said I only had 10 more minutes to live,’ Caryn shared. ‘To be here is incredible.’

Officer Jodoin also gushed to the outlet: ‘What Sophia did that night is not something anyone would just do. 

‘We have all worked long enough in this field to have seen people walk away, run away, drive away, pull out their phone, or simply watch.

‘Sophia sprung into action, alerted Robert, activated the emergency response system, implemented materials needed, rendered aid, and helped officers streamline information gathering. She saved a life.’

Since the incident, Sophia has been in contact with the Herbert Sullivan family almost every day.

After leaving the hospital in early March, things weren’t easy for Caryn, who worked as an elementary school cafeteria worker before the accident.

‘I could not write, I could not walk, I couldn’t do anything,’ she said. ‘I had to learn everything all over again. Every day is a challenge. [But] I’m going to get through this.’

Because of her heroic actions, DoorDash offered Sophia a $1,000 educational grant so she could go back to school and pursue her dream of becoming an EMT.  

‘Ms. Furtado’s care and quick response were nothing short of heroic and we are honored to have been able to show our appreciation for her tremendous efforts,’ the food delivery company said in a statement.

She also received a lifesaving award from the Fairhaven Police Department on April 20.

‘I would love to go back to school and [become a paramedic],’ she stated, adding that either way, ‘knowing that Caryn made it was the real reward for me.’ 

She also told As It Happens, ‘I definitely do not go into this situation saving Caryn and expecting anything back from it. I was just hoping the lady made it.’