MAYFIELD, Ky. (WDRB) -- In moments of decision, our destiny is shaped. The hardest decisions lie at the choice between where we should be and where we want to be.
For Marco Sanchez, an inmate at the Graves County Jail, there was no choice.
"Things have to happen in order for us to appreciate life," he said. "I was there for a reason. I didn't put myself there."
Sanchez said it was a normal night, Dec. 10. But a tornado was ultimately on its way to ravish Mayfield, and inside a candle factory in town, employees hadn't been sent home. Inside, there were seven inmates on work release inside, including Sanchez.
"It took seconds," he said.
Search are rescue crews work at the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory early Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021 in Mayfield, Ky. (Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP)
The walls shook, the lights flickered, windows shattered, and the building collapsed.
"The people that were next to me before the tornado, I could've been able to touch them. When I woke up, they weren't there," Sanchez said. "I was sitting on top and I looked around, and it was dark. There were no lights. Dark. For a minute, I felt like it was the end of the world."
As quickly as fear set in, it vanished from Sanchez's mind. He had choices to make.
"I seen a girl," she said. I recognized she was working there, too. She was trapped, crying.
"I was able to remove the rubble and took her out safely.
"She said, 'My feet hurt. My feet hurt.' I realized she didn't have shoes on. So I took my shoes off and put them on her. I said, 'You need to follow me.'"
With one survivor to a safe area, Sanchez stared down another decision: flee, find safety or go back for others.
"I knew I was needed," he said. "There was more out there."
Three more times, Sanchez made the decision to go back. He saved four people alone and assisted countless others when emergency teams arrived.
He then faced another defining moment: get away or turn himself back into jail.
"It's not in me," Sanchez said. "I'm responsible for my actions and I accept responsibility."
Graves County Sheriff Jon Hayden found out about Sanchez's heroics in the eye of the storm. He spoke with the inmate's sentencing judge and arranged for an early release.
Emergency response workers dig through the rubble of the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory in Mayfield, Ky., Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
"Some of the work he did that night and some of the decisions that he made were truly amazing," Hayden said. "Mr. Sanchez told the judge that he felt he needed to serve his sentence out, that that was the sentence he received and he felt he owed that to society. So the judge agreed."
"It was about me doing the right thing," Sanchez said.
Impressed, Hayden decided to honor Sanchez, arranging to take care of him when he walks out of jail on his own Tuesday.
"To be honest with you, the story just moved my heart a lot," Hayden said.
Ask Sanchez, and he'll tell you destiny is no matter of chance. It is by choice.
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- Residents of tornado-ravaged Mayfield, Ky. rebuilding with help from Louisville veterans
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