Joneboro’s Shauntez Allen made a life-saving drive in her Uber—one that she would never forget. She is now good friends with the passenger, Mary Mashburn, a student at Arkansas State University.
Mashburn said, “Without her, I probably wouldn’t have made it.”
Their encounter occurred when Mashburn, feeling ill because of an existing health issue, chose to take an Uber instead of driving. Doctors had advised her to seek medical attention if she developed a fever.
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The student told KAIT8, “I knew I wasn’t feeling well enough to drive myself, but at the time, there was nothing emergent. I was not showing signs of any life-or-death situation at the time I called for the Uber.”
However, when Allen picked her up, she sensed something was wrong. She could hear Mashburn fighting to breathe, so Allen decided to take her to the hospital immediately.
Allen recounted, “Breathing was really loud at first, and then it got so shallow that it was like barely above a whisper, and she was to me, fading away, and I was just like, lord please keep me calm enough to get her where she needs to be so I could at least save her, I was trying my best.”
Mashburn’s breathing worsened while driving.
“Basically, she stopped breathing in the back of my car, and I had to scream her name, Mary, wake up, like I am clapping, screaming, hollering, hey I need you to get up, wake up, wake up,” according to Allen.
Mashburn only nodded. Then, she experienced anaphylactic shock.
Meanwhile, the quick-thinking Uber driver contacted the hospital and informed them they were on their way.
Upon their arrival, Allen rushed inside and alerted them that Mashburn was hardly breathing and that she required assistance.
For a few days, doctors kept Mashburn on a ventilator.
Allen also called in to check on Mashburn until she was finally able to go in and see her.
“When she looked at me, I said, ‘Do you remember me’, and she said ‘yes’,” Allen said. “I wanted to cry right then, but I didn’t. To see that she remembered me and to know who I was, and for her to thank me and reach out to me like a baby, you know how a baby reaches out, we held hands until she dozed off.”
Mashburn feels that she would not have survived without Allen’s assistance.
She reflected, “I have never dealt with any kind of anaphylactic issues before, so it was completely random, and I don’t think an ambulance would have made it in time.”
Allen continued to visit Mashburn in the hospital, and the two remained in touch even after she was discharged and returned to her parents’ home.
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