When most people think of heroes, they imagine capes, flashing lights, and dramatic music. But sometimes, real heroes wear high-vis vests and sit behind the controls of a towering crane.
In late 2023, Glen Edwards became a household name in Reading, England, after pulling off a daring rescue that looked like something straight out of a movie. Perched inside his crane cab high above a burning building, Glen battled thick smoke and whipping wind to lower a suspended basket toward a stranded construction worker.
“The smoke was absolutely intense,” Glen recalled in an interview with ITV. “I could hardly see him, well, I couldn’t see him. I knew he was there, he was standing on the edge of the building.”
But Glen didn’t waver. He trusted his instincts, his skill, and his crane, and got the basket close enough for the worker to climb aboard and escape the fire, the fumes, and what might’ve been his final moments.
That act alone would have made him a local legend. But when Glen’s story reached the charity Bucket List Wishes, they learned something more: Glen, now 66, had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The illness had returned after a previous round of treatment and had now spread to his spine.
“He likely had cancer on the day he saved the construction worker’s life,” said Gini Hackett, founder of Bucket List Wishes. “He’s really humble, what he did was incredible. He is a real hero to us so we absolutely had to do something for him.”
So they asked Glen what he wanted most.
Did he ask for a dream vacation? A new car? A world tour? Nope.
All Glen wanted was new flooring and a garden shed for his recently purchased home. That’s it. Just the basics. Just what needed to be done.
Of course, Bucket List Wishes made that happen, and then some. They upgraded his kitchen appliances, gave him a big gift voucher for new bedding, and surprised him with a fishing trip to the Victorian-era seaside town of Swanage.
“I found it amazing to do this wish for him,” Hackett said. “He’s really humble.”
And humble is exactly the word. After the rescue, Glen received a letter from the worker he saved, a letter about his daughters, then 8 and 13, that Glen says “would bring a tear to your eye.”
Sometimes being a hero just means showing up, staying calm, and doing your job with heart. Glen Edwards did that, and gave two little girls their dad back.
And all he asked for in return… was a garden shed.
