A young couple from the Los Angeles area on a visit to Chicago had no idea whom they were helping when a man fell and hit his head getting out of a cab last Friday afternoon. Turns out, the good Samaritans had gone to the aid of novelist and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Fr. Andrew Greeley.
Renee Tucknott and her boyfriend were waiting for a cab themselves when Greeley's coat apparently was caught in the cab's door and dragged him, causing serious injuries.
When Tucknott returned to California, she wanted to see if there were news reports about the person they had helped -- knowing only that he had a priest's collar. When she searched the Internet, she was linked to the NBCChicago.com story.
"We were unaware of who this man was and we just kept wondering on how he was doing, I decided to Google something to see if it might show up in the news," Tucknott wrote on the NBC website, saying that her EMT boyfriend used her scarf to control the bleeding while the medics arrived and she called 911. "It's a great relief to hear that he is in stable condition."
When Greeley's extended Chicago family saw the comment on NBCChicago.com, they tracked Tucknott down through MySpace to thank her. "We are so grateful he was in good hands at the time," said Julie Montague, Greeley's niece.
Fr. Greeley remains in critical condition under sedation at Lutheran General Hospital in suburban Chicago.
