On Jan. 18, Andrew Michalak of Gastonia, N.C., was driving home from work when he hit a parked car. Police officers responding on the scene said later that Michalak was acting strange, erratic and "incoherent."
That's when Michalak reached for an ice scraper underneath his seat, according to WSOC-TV in Charlotte, N.C. Officers, fearing he had a weapon and was on drugs, tackled him and arrested him on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and assault, placing him in handcuffs
And that's when Michalak said he first remembers anything about the incident: lying on the ground, handcuffed and about to be transported to jail. DWIs in North Carolina are punishable by any combination of jail time, fines and probation, while assault can cost up to $1,000 or 30 days in jail.
One of the arresting officers, Jarod Ewers, placed Michalak in his patrol car, but on their way to the local jail, something odd happened.
"(Michalak) just went from being so out of it to being perfectly normal," Ewers told WBTV in Charlotte. Michalak also told Ewers that he had been having seizures and persuaded him to call the restaurant where he worked so that his boss could confirm his story.
Ewers, who told WSOC he has been trained to spot physical illnesses, decided to drop the charges against Michalak and instead recommended that he see a doctor.
Not long after that, Ewers, along with other members of the Gastonia police department, received thank you notes from Michalak.
As it turns out, Michalak did visit a doctor, who informed him that his seizures were the result of Stage 4 lung cancer that had spread to his brain. As a result, Michalak started receiving treatment, and despite his diagnosis, he says he is grateful to the men who spurred him to get help before it was too late.
"I love that guy," Michalak told WSOC about Ewers. "He saved my life. He gave me a fighting chance."
Since then, Ewers and Michalak have kept in close touch and have become friends.
"Just to have something so traumatic happen and then have the faith that he has... He's actually saved my life more than anything on that. I can tell you that," Ewers told WBTV.
Studies have shown that cancer can develop unnoticed for up to a decade before being detected. At the same time, nearly half of people with cancer don't discover they have it until it is too late, per The Guardian. Lung cancer, meanwhile, remains one of the most prevalent forms of cancer in the U.S.
