{"id":14559,"date":"2016-10-31T15:21:47","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T15:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/?p=14559"},"modified":"2016-10-31T15:21:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T15:21:47","slug":"san-jose-cop-helps-save-woman-then-fixes-up-her-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/?p=14559","title":{"rendered":"San Jose cop helps save woman, then fixes up her house"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Mercury News<\/a>) \u2013 Officer Mike Roberson helped save Mary Ellen Cancilla\u2019s life. Then he helped rebuild it.<\/p>\n

It was due in part to Roberson\u2019s persistence that officers this past summer found the 68-year-old Cancilla, weakened by radiation therapy, collapsed on her bedroom floor.<\/p>\n

<\/del>But as he looked around her cluttered,\u00a0under-kept\u00a0home, Roberson, a 17-year San Jose Police Department member, Air Force veteran, and long-active community volunteer, felt the need to do more.<\/p>\n

He observed a home that had fallen far behind in upkeep, filled with decades of no-longer-used belongings and other accumulated items dating back to when Cancilla\u2019s family moved into the home in the 1950s. He saw a cracked toilet, mold, and other detritus that struck a nerve with him.<\/p>\n

Roberson knew Cancilla had narrowly escaped with her life when he and the officers found her on that fateful July day. He could not imagine a scenario where after all she had gone through in recovering, she would go back\u00a0to a home in that condition.<\/p>\n

Roberson, who runs a construction\u00a0business on the side, decided again to go above and beyond. (It\u2019s a personal theme that sometimes touches on the literal: He\u2019s currently training to obtain his pilot\u2019s license.)<\/p>\n

And in doing so, he saved her again.<\/p>\n