After Medical Emergency, Firefighter Responds to Help Midlothian Family Spread Christmas Cheer

For their first Christmas season in Texas, decking the halls was essential for Rafael Martinez.

Saturday, the California transplant scaled the second story of his Midlothian home.

“I started putting up one by one the individual lights,” said Martinez.

He’d placed just six when he realized something wasn’t right.

“I guess my family was down low, and I started telling them that I was seeing something off in the distance when all of a sudden a seizure hit me,” he said.

“At that point, his body was just shaking all the way down to the first floor,” said Martinez’s son Ary Parra.

Parra, and his mother Melina Ojeda, did their best to keep Martinez from falling, propping him with a rake before he finally slid off of the roof and into Ojeda’s arms.

“That’s when I said, OK, call 911,” said Ojeda.

The family said Midlothian Fire was quick to respond.

EMTs helped to stabilize Martinez before transporting him to the ER where doctors began running tests.

Miraculously, he walked away without serious injury, but the cause of his seizure remains unknown.

Still, it’s what happened next that the family will never forget.

Shane Bailer wasn’t part of that crew that responded to Martinez’s home, but he’d heard the call come over the radio.

He later came across the family’s request for recommendations on Facebook for someone to finish the job.

“I said, ‘Hey, I’m Shane Bailer with Midlothian Fire Department. I’d be more than happy to help you,’” said Bailer. “He’s like, ‘How much do we charge?’ I said, ‘Nothing. I’m not going to charge you anything. If I can boost your Christmas spirit, especially with the circumstances that you’re dealing with, I’m going to at least help you out on that.'”

So on a rainy day, Bailer, who professionally strings lights when he’s not fighting fires, spent about three hours at Martinez’s home installing the lights he’d planned to hang himself.

“That’s a public servant. I mean, that’s what we do. I mean, yeah, we run emergency calls and stuff like that. But ultimately, we look for other things. We look out for you as a whole,” he said.

“To find an individual that’s willing to help me out. It’s, you know, it’s a blessing in and of itself,” said Martinez.

It also led to a new friendship the men say will far outlast the holiday season as well as a warm Texas welcome.

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