A man and his dog are grateful to be alive.

61-year-old Cecil Williams was waiting for a subway in New York when he began to pass out. His guide dog, Orlando, grabbed onto Williams to keep him from falling but couldn't hold on to him. The dog began barking to get the attention of other passengers before he finally jumped on the tracks and tried to wake Williams up by licking him.

"He went down, and the dog jumped down," said an eye-witness to the New York Post. "He wasn't pulled. He was kissing him, trying to get him to move."

Williams awoke just when an express train was pulling in. Workers on the subway instructed Williams to lie on the tracks and hide in the "trough" in the middle. The train then ran over Williams and his dog. Incredibly, both survived!

Williams only suffered a few cuts from the ordeal, and told reporters from his hospital bed, "The dog saved my life. I'm feeling amazed. I feel that God, the powers that be, having something in store from me. They didn't take me away this time. I'm here for a reason."

And if that wasn't enough, Indiana law student Grant Kirsh heard the story and started an Indiegogo campaign to keep Williams and Orlando together after learning that Williams could not afford to keep the dog since his insurance would pay for a new seeing-eye dog but not a non-working dog since Orlando would soon have to retire. By the end of the day, more than $45,000 was donated.

"I would hate to lose my dog," Kirsh said to Buzzfeed. "In this case, it will be especially traumatic for this man to lose his dog because he's blind, and he can't afford him."

In a press conference, a tearful Williams told reporters, "Orlando has been working for eight years, he's 7 years old, and now he can retire and be a pet. His medical coverage is taken care of as long as he lives and other things will be there for him too."

He added, "I'd like to say thank you, but I'm looking for some more words to describe how it feels...It's a blessing, a miracle."

 

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