Generous accident victim.

On April 19, 2001, Donnie Foster was riding his bicycle to work at the Collins Signs company in Dothan, Alabama, when, police officials believe, an SUV swerved to avoid a semi-trailer and ran into his bicycle. Foster was catapulted into a barbed wire fence. He spent four days in the hospital, and another six months recuperating from his injuries. His injuries left him unable to do his old job, and he was declared medically disabled.

However, Foster, who had attended special education classes in high school due to a learning disability, was never one to let a handicap stop him from accomplishing something worthwhile. He now volunteers five days a week at Flowers Hospital in Dothan, pushing a cart loaded with X-rays, account records, interoffice memos, and other documents. He visits more than 100 departments each day.

Along with his assigned duties, Foster goes out of his way to make patients feel better, often using his own money to buy children stuffed animals from the hospital gift shop. And if it is a child's birthday, he and other volunteers will buy the child coloring books.

Because of his dedicated service, the staff at the hospital nominated Foster for a statewide Health Care Hero award. When it came time to accept his award at a ceremony in Birmingham, Foster stood at a podium and told the audience that the real heroes were the men and women serving overseas in the military.

"I don't feel like a hero. I feel like a normal person," the Dothan Eagle quoted him.

Maybe a hero is just a normal person who goes to super-normal lengths to help others.