There is a new example of the sacrifice search and rescue volunteers make when they donate their time to finding lost strangers.

In January, Here & Now reported on Pat Sanchez who runs the Sawyer County search and rescue (SAR) team. The Sawyer County SAR team is well-known around the Northwoods for their professionalism and skill, and Sanchez said she spends all her vacation time from her full-time job on searches that come up in the middle of the workweek.

Sanchez’s husband Mike is also on the SAR team. In January Pat Sanchez announced her husband had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.

“I used most of my vacation time to go on searches and now do not have the time off needed to get my husband to treatment or spend time with him,” she said.

SAR teams in Wisconsin are run by volunteers, who donate their time and pay for their own training. Only a handful of counties around the state maintain any type of in-house SAR team. Each search in Wisconsin is under the direction of the local Sheriff, who will often turn to these volunteer teams.

See Here & Now’s original report: