(CNN) -- A man sees a 75-year-old man stuck on railroad tracks and pulls him to safety. An off-duty emergency worker pulls a woman from a van after it crashes into an icy pond. An NBA star saves a woman from drowning.





A postal worker helps a mother whose baby is unconscious. A father goes into a house engulfed in flames to save two of his children, then returns to save the family's pet.





These are examples of everyday people who, when confronted with a life-or-death situation, jumped in to do what they could -- and became rescuers and heroes.





CNN.com takes a look at some of the stories of heroic acts that happened throughout the country in the past 12 months.





Do you know someone who's an everyday hero? Tell us about them on CNN iReport





NBA player saves woman from drowning





Donté Greene is used to being looked up to. He is a 6-foot-11 player for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. But on Memorial Day he became a lifesaver.





Greene and some friends were on a boat in the American River near Discovery Park in Sacramento, California. Greene told CNN affiliate KCRA that he heard some yelling and then a splash.





A woman had been pulling a ladder onto her boat, and she was thrown into the water when the driver pulled away. Greene saw the woman flailing in the water and dived in.





"I honestly don't even think I was thinking -- I was just reacting," he told KCRA. "I was pretty confident in my swimming abilities."





Read the story at the KCRA web site





Off-duty EMT makes icy pond rescue





Tony Gerdom, an emergency medical worker from Iowa, was driving off-duty on December 7 when the van in front of him suddenly swerved off the icy road and fell into a pond. The cold weather had frozen the locks and windows on the van, trapping driver Kathy Van Steenvik.





Gerdom took a tire iron and smashed the van's passenger side window to free the driver. A second man, Brian Ford, held onto him with a rope while Gerdom descended into the pond. Each man shrugged off his hero label.





"I'm just the lucky idiot that jumped in first," Gerdom told CNN affiliate WHO in Des Moines, Iowa.





"No matter how cold the water was, it's this overwhelming feeling that I helped save a life. It's tremendous," Ford said.





All three were treated at a hospital for minor hypothermia.





Read the story at the WHO web site





Postman delivers CPR to save baby





In Sacramento, California, Robert Sweeney had just about finished delivering the mail on December 11, 2008, when he heard a panicked mother's cry for help.





Her baby, 19-month-old Kelly Jimenez, appeared lifeless. Sweeney took the child, placed her on the grass in front of the woman's home and performed CPR while neighbors called 911. Sweeney revived the child before paramedics arrived, CNN affiliate KCRA reported.





Sweeney told KCRA that the emotion of the moment didn't hit him until he got back in his truck to go home. That's when he started crying.





"You don't ever think you would be in a situation like that," he said.





Read the story at the KCRA web site





Father saves children, family dog from burning home





A Michigan father jumped through flames to save his two youngest sons when an electrical fire set their house ablaze December 7.





Investigators told CNN affiliate WZZM in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that sparks from an electrical outlet set a living room curtain on fire.





After climbing up pitch-black stairs to rescue his 4-year-old and 2-year-old boys, Jonathan Brito went back in the house and pulled out Punchy, the family's dog, who was unconscious. Brito performed CPR and revived the dog, Brito's wife, Charlene Hernandez, told the station.





"He got the dog to breathe," she said. "[Punchy] coughed up some smoke
Who does the emergency worker help? Who does the man help? Who does the postal worker help? Man sees 75-year-old stuckwhere? A postal worker helps who?
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question: Who does the emergency worker help?, answer: pulls a woman from a van after it crashes into an icy pond. | question: Who does the man help?, answer: 75-year-old | question: Who does the postal worker help?, answer: a mother whose baby is unconscious. | question: Man sees 75-year-old stuckwhere?, answer: on railroad tracks | question: A postal worker helps who?, answer: a mother whose baby is unconscious.