Massachusetts

Woman Battling Cancer Searches for Good Samaritan Who Saved Her Life on Massachusetts Highway

A Leominster, Massachusetts, woman battling stage 4 cancer is trying to find the good Samaritan she credits with saving her life not in a hospital, but on the side of the highway last year.

Kate LaBelle was driving on Route 2 westbound on May 27, 2016, when she started losing consciousness. She was on her way to a doctor’s appointment to get a CT scan when she realized she needed to pull over.

“The last thing I remember is my chest hurting really badly, like an elephant was standing on my chest,” LaBelle said.

She was taking the Devens exit when her head went down and her car hit the guard rail. The next thing she remembers is waking up to the good Samaritan, a nurse who comforted her until an ambulance arrived.

“It was terrifying just not knowing what was happening because I had no idea how sick I was,” LaBelle said.

At the hospital, LaBelle was diagnosed with stage 4 angiosarcoma, a rare cancer of the blood vessels. It was causing her heart to fill up with fluid, putting so much pressure on it, doctors only had minutes to perform the emergency procedure that saved her.

“If it wasn’t for that woman stopping, I probably wouldn’t be here talking to you right now,” LaBelle said.

There was no police report or witness statement taken at the scene. With no clues, LaBelle decided to post on Facebook to try and find her Route 2 angel.

“She saved my life and I’m incredibly thankful,” LaBelle wrote in her post that has been shared over 2,000 times.

Between the chemo treatments, LaBelle and her family are hoping somewhere in the comments someone can point her in the right direction to thank the woman who saved her.

“Because she could have kept driving. I don’t know, I’d like to think anyone would stop, but I know that’s not always the case,” said her father, David LaBelle. “She went above and beyond.”

A GoFundMe page to help pay for LaBelle's treatment has raised more than $26,000 of its $100,000 goal as of Wednesday evening.

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