EDMONTON (CP) -- Relatives of an Edmonton man who died before he could be given a bravery award will finally see him honoured for saving his family from an arson fire.
Robert Cardinal was originally to have been given the Medal of Bravery in Ottawa on Sept. 12, 2003, but his plans to travel to the ceremony had to be cancelled due to his failing health. Two weeks later, he died of the burns he suffered to more than 90 per cent of his body.
``He was talking about it,'' said Cardinal's mother, Yvonne, who will travel to Ottawa on June 25 to receive the medal. ``He was very proud of it. In my heart, too, I'm proud of it.''
Cardinal spent 2 1/2 years in the burn unit of the University of Alberta hospital before he died.
His mother spent most of that time at his side, putting her studies in social work on hold.
She said he grew to be her best friend.
``We talked about a lot of things and what he was going to do in life,'' she recalled. ``You know, the emotional, the mental, the pain that you go through together by him expressing his emotions.''
She often wanted to hold him, to comfort him, but couldn't because of his extensive burns.
``All I could do was hold his hands,'' she said.
On April 13, 2001, arsonist Timothy Zielinski set fire to the apartment building where Cardinal, then 32, lived with his family. When he realized their fourth-floor suite was burning, he helped his wife, two daughters and a young niece and nephew jump from the living room window to a crowd that had gathered below.
Cardinal stayed inside, desperately searching for his five-year-old nephew, but was finally engulfed by flames. Firefighters found him still burning in the third-floor stairwell.
His nephew, who was also badly burned, was later found by firefighters and taken to safety. He was released from hospital 10 days later, making a remarkable recovery.
Zielinski was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He had mistaken the apartment building for one where members of a gang who had allegedly beat him lived.
