Gas station clerk saves woman when heat leaves her breathless in Ohio

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- An Ohio woman is lucky to be alive after she collapsed outside a gas station with symptoms of a heat stroke.

Crystal Ault says she was in such peril, she could only mouth the words 'help me' to BP employee Anthony Marks, who quickly rushed to her aid.

"She pulled up when I was working at the window and she looked distressed, so I ran out there and put her car in park and brought her inside," Marks told WTOV-TV.

Ault said she had only ventured a block away from her home during last week's heat wave, and began to suffer from complications of emphysema.

"I had just run out of my inhaler," Ault said. "He left and went home and gave me his inhaler. He's like a guardian angel--a guardian angel. He was there at the right time."

Heat stroke or heat exhaustion: Do you know the difference?

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Marks said he gave Ault some water after figuring she couldn't breathe, before running home for an albuterol inhaler.

"I just figured it was the right thing to do," Marks said. "If it was one of my family members, I would want someone to do that for me, you know?"

Once Ault recovered from the emergency, Marks even drove Ault home in her own vehicle before walking back to the gas station.

Marks said he had only been on the job for about a month when all of this happened.

Ault said her 'angel' should consider a new line of work.

"He has such a heart," she said. "Such a good American over there. He really is."