When Tom Beradinelli slipped on some ice, he may have succumbed to a life-threatening head injury had it not been for his incredible boxer, Maggie.
Tom was walking his eight-year-old dog on the beach near their Weymouth, Massachusetts home on Thursday night when he slipped and fell on a patch of ice. The 70-year-old fell on his head and was knocked unconscious.
Maggie ran to a neighbor’s house and jumped at the door. This alerted the dogs inside, whose human came to investigate the commotion. Joe Tanko recognized Maggie, and sensed trouble.
“So I ran to the door and I saw Maggie with no Tom at the end of the leash,” he explained.
Joe found his neighbor lying in a snow bank and called an ambulance.
Tom suffered a brain hemorrhage and major head trauma. Doctors told his wife the if he had been outside much longer, he probably wouldn’t have made it.
“Your husband’s alive because the dog went to that door,” Christine Bernadinelli said doctors told her.
Tom underwent surgery at the hospital, and is currently in the intensive care unit. He is speaking again, which doctors believe is a good sign of his recovery.
