Student surprises good Samaritan 5 months later

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A young man told he would never walk again reunites with the woman who was there holding his hand after disaster.

For months NewsChannel 18 has followed the progress of Purdue Engineering Student David Rankine, who was severely injured in May in a crash on I-65.

From his paralysis in a wheelchair, to his recovery and return to Purdue, we’ve followed his amazing journey.

Now for the first time, we reunited him with the good Samaritan who stayed by his side as a car lay on top of him and they waited for help.

On Tuesday, Jamie Jackson met up with Valerie Dunn, a nurse who stopped her car back in May when she saw the crash Rankine was in.

Rankine himself has no memory of the crash.

"I didn't remember the accident, but I always thought I had this dream of everything that happened, that transpired, and again the last thing I remember is holding someone's hand,” Rankine said. “I kept telling someone that I felt someone was there, I knew someone was there… but everyone told me no one was there.”

But Rankine was right. Dunn was there.

"Being a nurse I felt so helpless,” Dunn said. “There was nothing I could do but hold him and talk to him."

Dunn, a mother herself, says she just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

After NewsChannel 18 sat down with Dunn Tuesday, a special surprise guest greeted her.

It was Rankine, coming to tell her how thankful he was for her kindness.

“I just can’t believe it, I really can’t,” Rankine said when he was reunited with Dunn. “I've been crying the past couple of days because I didn't know how I would act coming to see you today. Thank you, Valerie.”

And now the reunion neither one of them thought would take place, is building the foundation for a friendship that will last a lifetime.