"I did what anyone else would do"
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Brent Buford (left) helped save Alex Flordelis' life. Photo: Robert Sanchez/Axios
Outside a room packed with nearly 100 people there to celebrate him, Brent Buford wanted no part of the fuss.
What he's saying: "I did what anyone else would do," the 68-year-old grandfather said.
In January, Buford spotted a black jacket near overgrown bushes across from a Highlands Ranch elementary school.
- Then his headlights caught the top of a man's head.
Alex Flordelis, 36, was face down on the sidewalk. Buford jumped out of his car and dialed 911.
"I'm gonna roll you over," he told the motionless man.
- Buford turned Flordelis onto his back and started CPR.
Firefighters and paramedics soon arrived and took over. They found a pulse.
- Lost it.
- Found it again.
- Lost it again.
When the ambulance doors closed, Buford worried the young man was dead. He wondered about the stranger's family.
The next day, Buford found out Flordelis had survived.
- In the months that followed, he learned Flordelis was a husband and father to a 2-year-old son — and that an undiagnosed hereditary heart condition caused his collapse.
Between the lines: Flordelis' doctor said Buford's quick response prevented permanent brain damage.
Buford never made much of that night.
- He told his wife and grown children, but few others. A coworker at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, where Buford is a civilian statutory programs specialist, eventually heard what happened and spread the word.
And that's how nearly 100 people ended up in a conference room Tuesday to see Buford receive lifesaving awards from the sheriff's office and South Metro Fire Rescue.
The big picture: These events usually wait until January. This one couldn't.
- This summer, Buford was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.
- His doctor says there's no cure, but the cancer might be contained. He's undergoing chemotherapy.
So on Tuesday, a packed room celebrated the life Buford saved while quietly mourning the one they know will end.
Sheriff Darren Weekly called Buford a hero. Flordelis choked back tears and thanked the man who gave him a second chance.
The two men hugged.
- "My part was small," Buford said.
Looking back, he's sure he's had cancer for a while.
Which means, on that night eight months ago, one dying man stopped to save another.