CTV building survivor finally meets rescuer

Barry Grottis helped carry the injured Anne Malcolm out and stayed with her. Photo / Geoff Sloan

CTV building survivor Anne Malcolm, the mother of Outrageous Fortune star Robyn, finally got to meet her guardian angel Barry Grottis in an emotional reunion at Christchurch's Burwood Hospital.

The pair embraced as they met for the first time last Thursday - just over a month since the February 22 quake.

Badly injured Ms Malcolm wanted to find and thank the mystery man who helped her when the CTV building collapsed.

"It's so good to see you. I tell you what, I'm so grateful to you. I'm much better thanks to you," she said.

"I just want to say thank you for what you did."

Mr Grottis, bearing flowers, said it was good to see that Ms Malcolm was recovering well.

"It's good to see you smiling. You look a lot better now. I wasn't really doing that well, but seeing you here is probably the best thing that's come out of the day," he said.

Ms Malcolm told him: "You're the best thing that's come out of my day for me, I've been searching for you."

Ms Malcolm, whose memory was "sketchy" after the ordeal, asked Mr Grottis how he came to be at her aid that fateful
day.

Mr Grottis, a 27-year-old NZ Institute of Sport student, said it was by mere chance that he happened to be nearby when the drama unfolded before him on Cashel St.

He was meant to be at a course but was running late.

He said he and a passerby helped carry Ms Malcolm after she was lifted from the rubble.

He then stayed with her, bandaged her arm and gave her water - having learned first aid only the day before at his course.

Ms Malcolm said Mr Grottis selflessly helped her, despite the possible danger to himself. "There's a good future ahead for you, my friend, because you've got a very, very caring quality."

Ms Malcolm invited Mr Grottis to a party planned by her employer, Relationship Service Whakawhanaungatanga, to thank the rescuers who helped save the staff whose office was in the CTV building.

"We'll have a wee celebration with all these amazing people," Ms Malcolm said.

One of Ms Malcolm's colleagues, Nina Bishop, did not make it out alive, with more than 90 others who were in the building.

- APN