You might think that daily pizzas would be a bad choice for your longevity — and let’s face it, they would be — but in one man’s case the habit ended up saving his life.
Kirk Alexander had ordered a pizza from Domino’s Pizza in Salem, Oregon every day for a full 10 years. When the orders stopped coming, it didn’t take long for staff at the pizza chain to realise something was wrong.
Strap in for a slice of some seriously heartwarming heroics, courtesy of the pizza delivery frontlines.
Having grown accustomed to seeing Kirk’s daily orders, the pizza place’s staff were confused to see them dry up back in 2016.
Sarah Fuller, the General Manager at that Domino’s Pizza at the time, said: "A few of my drivers had mentioned that we hadn't seen his order come across our screen in a while, so I went and looked up to see how long it had been since he last ordered and it was 11 days, which is not like him at all."
“He places an order almost every evening, or every other evening, at around midnight, so we knew, as Saturday was getting later and no order was coming in, that there was something was up,” Sarah told ABC News.
Quickly realising Kirk might need help, Sarah sent a delivery driver over to his place to check on him. “The lights were on, the TV was going, but no one was answering the door,” she said.
That’s when they decided to call 911 to check on Kirk. When the police arrived, they could hear someone “calling for help from within the residence” and so broke the door down.
They soon discovered that Kirk was “in need of immediate medical attention” and so rushed him off to hospital where his condition was stabilised.
Staff later visited him in hospital to check-in on how he was doing. “He’s doing a lot better,” said Jenny Seiber, another staff member at the time. “The first day we saw him he was a little out of it, just yes and no questions, then I went back on Monday and he was doing a lot better.”
Knowing that their quick thinking had saved his life, Kirk was very grateful, but Sarah and Jenny brushed it off.
Fuller said he’s 'just an important customer that's part of our family here at Domino's', adding: "He orders all the time so we know him. I think we were just doing our job checking in on someone we know who orders a lot.”
At the time, the Daily Mail reported that paramedics believed he may have had a stroke. Details of his condition since then have not been reported.
What is clear is that he may not have been found in time if not for the Domino’s staff’s quick thinking and care for one of their regulars.
Along with being given free cinema tickets as a reward, they were also invited to the Domino’s worldwide rally in Las Vegas a special thank you.
Seeing as they were modest about their actions, knowing they had saved a man’s life was likely reward enough for these pizza-making heroes.
Featured Image Credit: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rachael Davis