ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 12, 1997 TAG: 9704140026
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LONDON
The Illinois woman was able to get British police to the man's house within hours of his collapse.
An Illinois woman got British police to rescue her Scrabble opponent when the man suffered a seizure while playing the game over the Internet.
Dee Dobyne of suburban Chicago and John Elliott were engrossed in the spelling game via their computer hookup Wednesday when Elliott sent the message: ``I've fallen on the floor and I can't move or see. Please get help.''
Dobyne replied: ``I'm not going to leave you. I don't know what to do but I'm going to find a way to help you.''
She got no answer.
The 24-year-old man, who has cerebral palsy, had passed out.
Dobyne, 31, knew Elliott lived near Cheltenham, but had no phone number or address. The former telephone operator called British telephone information services but was told she couldn't trace him without knowing exactly where he lived.
``I was crying in frustration,'' she told the British national news agency Press Association.
Dobyne put out messages over the Internet asking if other users knew where Elliott lived. She also contacted British Police Inspector David Winchester, who took over the search.
Five hours after Elliott's collapse, police traced him to his home in Didcot, 50 miles west of London. He was beginning to recover when two police officers and two paramedics arrived.
``I had managed to get myself back into my wheelchair,'' he said.
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