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Wrong-number call helps Ohio woman having stroke

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The Associated Press Updated 12:06 PM Friday, February 3, 2012

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — A woman who called the wrong number when she suffered a stroke still found help a couple of time zones away.

Loretta Smith, of Cuyahoga Falls near Akron, felt her right side go numb and fell to the floor at her home last weekend.

The 70-year-old Smith said she was able to grab the phone with her left hand and thought she was calling her son. Instead, she was one digit off and reached a man in the Denver area who was originally from northeast Ohio and had kept the same number after he moved.

"It was a woman, and she said 'I may be having a stroke,'" said Kenny Crater, 28, a sculpture major at Metropolitan State University in Denver.

Crater asked for her name and address and offered to get help. His 911 call was answered by Broomfield, Colo., police, who transferred his call to Cuyahoga Falls.

Smith was taken to Summa Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, where it was determined that she had suffered a mini-stroke, said Dr. Joseph Nienaltowski.

Smith said Crater saved her life. "I want this kid to be praised to high heaven," she said.

Crater said Smith had done her part, too. "I do not feel like I have done anything special," he said.

"I didn't save her," Crater said. "She found me."

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February 03, 2012 05:01 PM EST

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