UKIAH, Calif. – It started out as an average day, recalled Milo Moreno, maintenance worker at Ukiah Valley Medical Center (UVMC).

But what happened that Tuesday, Sept. 2, was extraordinary.

“I was working on a commercial kitchen microwave that wasn’t working,” shared Moreno, who continued, “I had been checking all the parts and had just plugged and unplugged the microwave when Eric Odlozil, technician from Reliance Enterprises, came into the maintenance shop and began giving me some troubleshooting advice. I really appreciated his expertise in helping me figure out what the malfunction was. Eric asked me if I had checked the plug. He immediately pushed the plug into the outlet while holding the microwave. I immediately heard a pop and jumped back.

“Eric remained clinging on to the microwave. So, I reacted by shoving it out of his hands. Eric fell backwards and the microwave fell beside him. I said to him, 'Dude are you OK?' He barely garbled out the word no – his eyes were also going crazy and moving all around.”

What happened next is a nothing short of heroic.

“I knew something wasn’t right and I ran into the hospital to the emergency room where I found Dr. Trotter. Dr. Trotter grabbed a couple more of his colleagues and ran with me back out to the maintenance shop where we found Eric not breathing! I couldn’t believe this was happening. Dr. Trotter called a code blue and began resuscitating Eric. I stayed by his side the whole time until I knew everything was going to be alright.”

UVMC and its staff were grateful for Moreno’s acts of heroism and wanted to honor him with a gift.

However, rather than receiving a gift he is asking the community to be heroes for someone else by donating bone marrow on Monday, Dec. 15, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in honor of his cousin Erick Moreno who recently passed away at the age of 14 from leukemia.

The test is a simple swab that tests your saliva for a potential match in the Be The Match registry.

Anyone between the ages of 18 to 44 is eligible to join the registry.

There will also be a special hero celebration for Moreno at 3:30 p.m. that day.

For more information please contact UVMC at 707-463-7616 or visit www.bethematchfoundation.org/goto/uvmc .