Jose Toro is a hero. The describes someone who sets their own self interest and safety aside to save the life of another. That’s what Jose Toro did earlier this month when he saw a woman lying unconscious on Union Street.
The 51-year-old Lynn resident jumped into action and started CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in a bid to revive the woman. He did this with disregard to his health, including exposure to coronavirus.
Toro told The Item that he helped the woman because he knew she was dying. “I knew exactly what I had to do because I’ve done this before. I’ve saved other people’s lives.”
He lives on Union Street and he said the other people he saved were dying from drug overdoses. Toro worked to save the woman’s life while coworker Jeff Hurley, a Lynnfield resident, called emergency 911 for help.
Toro said he didn’t think about coronavirus while he was compressing the woman’s chest and breathing life into her lungs. Someone’s life suddenly depended on him and “that was just the chance I took.”
Hurley described Toro as a superhero. But Toro said he was simply someone placed in the right place at the right time to save a life.
That modest explanation is easily applied to all of us. At any moment we could be called upon to be a hero in the same manner in which Toro earned the title.
It’s a hard calling to heed at a time when we are wearing masks and avoiding human contact to avoid coronavirus exposure. Isolation and virtual, online interaction are our refuges during a pandemic. Jumping into action to physically help someone else seems like more than a selfless act; it seems like a life-or-death decision.
When terrorists attacked our country, we slapped the hero label on firefighters and other public safety workers. When coronavirus struck, we found more heroes: Grocery store workers, front-line medical workers and long-haul truck drivers.
They earn the title day in and day out and the rest of us are only one selfless act, one smile or helping hand, away from earning it.
In this strange time when our faces are half hidden and we have abandoned handshakes and hugs for social distancing, every selfless — never mind, life saving — gesture is magnified.
There are people who need our helping hand, who need our money, if we can spare it, who need hope and encouraging words. At a time when “quarantine” and “virtual” are words partly defining our existence, we still have opportunities to act directly and dramatically to help someone.
Jose Toro didn’t wait for other people to act before he started saving a woman’s life. He acted with an understanding that it was his time to make a difference and step up.
Jose Toro is a superhero.
