Sometimes a helping hand is all it takes to save someone.

Losing a parent is a traumatic event for anyone, but it is particularly devastating for children. Danny was only six years old when he lost his father in a coal mining accident. This was over 50 years ago, when there was no such thing as a trained medical rescue team. It was then and there that he decided to dedicate his life to public safety and helping others.

Danny has followed this dedication to this day. He is one of the founders of the Special Medical Response Team (SMRT) and is a valued member of Pennsylvania Task Force 1, a rapid response rescue team that specializes in urban search and rescue. Over the years, he had played an active role in hundreds of rescue operations. Some of them are well-known by the public. Some aren't.

In August of 2005, PA Task Force 1 was one of the first rescue teams to reach the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina had destroyed hundreds of miles of coast line. He remembers being appalled by the extent of the damage to Gulf Coast.

At first, the cleanup effort was discouraging because Danny and his team initially found no survivors. But then their selfless efforts were rewarded. Two fishermen in their shrimp boat had been caught off guard by Katrina. The storm had violently pushed their boat inland – leaving them and their boat stranded on top of a 100-foot tree. By the time PA Task Force 1 rescued the fishermen, they had been stranded for several days with no food or water.

Hurricane Katrina was one extraordinary rescue for Danny; the Quecreek mining accident in Pennsylvania was another. What transpired there was the nightmare of every miner: a group of nine miners were trapped in a mine that almost instantly became flooded by an underground stream. As the SMRT arrived at the scene, time was running out fast. Danny immediately assisted in setting the operation in motion. As they started to drill their way to the trapped miners, all available water pumps were set to maximum power in an effort to lower the ever-rising water level within the mine. After 78 very tense hours of constant drilling, the trapped miners were able to see the light of day. All nine men were brought to the surface: exhausted and cold, but unscathed.

One of the most touching moments of Danny’s career in rescue operations was the ability to personally greet the rescued Quecreek miners. No doubt, many of those miners are fathers of young children – a fact that has special significance for Danny. Sometimes a helping hand is all that is needed to save someone.