WTOL.com, Toledo's News Leader, News 11 | Fulton Co. dad passes out -- daughter hailed a hero

Fulton Co. dad passes out -- daughter hailed a hero

FULTON COUNTY (WTOL) - A father says his 9-year-old daughter is a hero after he passed out and his daughter helped save the day.

Dave Kessinger doesn't remember much about what happened when he was driving his daughter home three weeks ago.

When his blood sugar dropped, he says he went into a diabetic coma. "There's periods where I remember her yelling and screaming at me, but it didn't really... sink in."

Star Kessinger thought her dad was going to die. She says she screamed in her dad's ears to try to wake him. There were some near misses. "I seen a semi coming really close to us and my dad was about to go right off the road and into a house." She says he even struck several concrete medians.

Neither Dave nor Starr know how they made it the nearly 30 miles from Grand Rapids, Ohio to Airport Highway and Reynolds Road in south Toledo.  

Once the car stopped at a stoplight, Starr put the car in park, shut it off and ran for help. "I'm really happy. I can't believe I could have done that all on my own," said Kessinger.

Now, when Dave Kessinger drives, he makes sure his glucose tablets are close by in case his blood sugar drops. "There's no more... taking chances and driving. I never thought something like that would happen to me."

Kessinger says there are no words to describe the gratitude he feels toward his daughter.

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