CRANDALL, Ga. — An Instacart delivery turned into a life-saving mission. A Dalton woman decided to trust her gut instincts and leave her comfort zone. Now, because of that, she possibly saved lives in the process.
You may have come across the TikTok. The video shows Instacart delivery driver Jessica Higgs in tears, moments after learning a quick delivery changed a family's life forever.
Our NBC affiliate in Chattanooga spoke to her after her video went viral.
"If you see something, say something," she says while speaking to the camera.
Higgs noticed a delivery was going unanswered in Crandall. Her instinct told her to take it. On the other end of that request was a woman placing an order for her father.
"This is for someone who can't shop. So let me get everything I can get," is what Higgs had in mind.
The delivery company recommends drivers only enter into homes if they're invited and feel comfortable doing so. This time, when she got to the house, her instinct kicked back in. So she went inside.
"He was just stumbling all over the place. There was something different about that," Higgs said, speaking about the woman's father she was delivering groceries to.
She could smell something was off... literally.
"It was a pretty predominant smell," Higgs said. "That's when I realized the smell had to have been coming from the propane."
There was a gas leak inside the home. She notified the man's daughter on the app. Moments later, she got a review from that woman confirming the tank was, in fact, leaking.
Her tip increased from $14 to $100, and the woman gave her five stars. The review reads, "Thank you so much. Once my son went to check on my dad it turned out it was definitely leaking, you definitely saved my dad and my younger son’s life!!!'"
For Higgs, helping them out was priceless.
"I was Instacarting that day a lot because I was short on rent. That just meant the world to me. I'm a newly single parent with two kids and it's hard to find a job," she said. "Every job I apply to they don't want to hire me because of my availability because I have kids."
Now she has a message for other delivery drivers.
"I'm just an Instacart worker, but if you see something, say something. And I did. I'm so happy I did." She said.
Since her video has been posted at the start of the month, it has garnered more than 17 million views.
Hundreds of thousands of people have commented on Higgs’ video, including model Bella Hadid and Disney star Dove Cameron.
"i don't have words for how much this moved me . i'm so grateful that you exist," wrote Cameron.