Jaylen Lockhart, a U.S. postal worker in Aurora, Illinois, was driving on his regular route when he spotted a man in his rearview mirror who seemed wobbly.

“He seemed to be walking off-balance,” said Lockhart, 26. Then suddenly, “he fell and hit his head…he faceplanted on the ground.”

Lockhart turned on his hazard lights and did a sharp U-turn. He sprinted toward the man, Guy Miller, 75, who was on a walk with his dog, Bentley, when he fell.

“I dropped his treat bag on the ground, and I bent over to pick it up,” Miller said. “About the same time I bent over, he lunged at a squirrel. I lost my balance and hit the ground.”

Lockhart watched the unsettling scene unfold.

“I just saw that he fell really hard, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Whatever emergency he was going through, we were going to go through it together,’” Lockhart said. “I was not just going to keep driving. I knew that I had to be hands-on and help him.”

Lockhart waved down two vehicles that drove by and asked if they could help, too. The drivers got out of their cars and ran toward them.

“I noticed there was a lot of blood,” said Lockhart, adding that they tried applying pressure to the wound on his head using napkins and someone’s spare T-shirt.

Lockhart asked Miller some questions to check on his cognitive condition. He asked for his name, the day of the week and his address.

Once it was clear that Miller seemed lucid, Lockhart got back in his truck and drove to the address Miller gave him, about a block away, so he could notify Miller’s wife about what happened. The other bystanders stayed with Miller and his dog.

“Bentley was very calm throughout everything,” said Lockhart. “He stayed right by his side.”

Lockhart informed Miller’s wife, Marcia, about the fall, and she followed him in her own car to her husband.

“It was very scary,” said Marcia Miller, who was babysitting her 2-year-old grandchild at the time. “Jaylen waited for me while I got my grandson in his car seat.”

Once they got to Guy Miller, Lockhart helped him into his wife’s car.

“I started crying when I saw him because it was heartbreaking,” Marcia Miller said. “He was definitely dazed to the point where he could not get himself up.”

Given that Guy Miller seemingly had minor wounds and bruises, his wife took him home and called their daughter, a nurse, to come examine him.

“He’s diabetic, so he bleeds easily. It looked much worse than once we got it cleaned off,” Marcia Miller said, adding that their daughter determined he did not have a concussion and did not need to go to the hospital for further treatment.

“Things were okay,” Guy Miller said.

The Millers were blown away by Lockhart.

“To go to the extent that he did to take care of Guy, to wipe his face, to come to my house to find me so that Guy would have family with him, what kind of person does that?” Marcia Miller said. “In today’s society, we’re so busy, we’re fearful. When you knock on a stranger’s door, you don’t know who is behind that door.”

The following morning, on Nov. 17, Lockhart woke up to hundreds of notifications on his phone. The Millers’ daughter, Ashley Roberts, had posted a screenshot of the Ring camera footage of Lockhart at her parents’ front door in a local Facebook group and wrote, “Aurora help me find this sweet postman!”

“He went above and beyond for my dad,” she wrote. “Anyone know him?!”

After being alerted to the post, Lockhart reached out to Roberts, who asked him to meet him in person.

“I was like, ‘Hey, well, come on over,’” said Lockhart, explaining that Roberts and her mother stopped by his apartment that day to thank him for what he did.

That’s when Marcia Miller invited Lockhart and his family - including his girlfriend, Sydney Rehm, and their 1-year-old daughter, Lennyn - for Thanksgiving, and he graciously accepted the invite.

“The bond had already formed in our hearts because of a deeper level of care that he showed in this crisis,” Marcia Miller said. “As soon as we met him, it was like we were family, and I asked, ‘What are you doing for Thanksgiving?’”

Guy Miller has recovered from the fall, and as a precaution, he has an upcoming appointment with a neurologist to ensure there are no underlying issues that caused him to be off-balance.

Last week at the annual Aurora Winter Lights Fest, Lockhart received the Mayor’s Award of Service and helped light the city’s official Christmas tree. He was also honored Tuesday at an Aurora City Council meeting. The mayor of Aurora declared Aug. 29 -

Lockhart’s birthday - as “Jaylen Lockhart Day” in the city.

“Jaylen’s quick-thinking, selfless actions helped to save the day,” the city of Aurora wrote in a Facebook post.

The story, which was first reported by NBC 5 Chicago, has reached people across the internet.

“What the world is looking for is some kindness and some care,” said Marcia Miller.

Lockhart said since Guy Miller’s fall, he and the Miller family have been in touch every day. His girlfriend has also become friends with Miller’s daughter.

“We’ve got a group chat now,” Lockhart said. “We’ve all formed a bond; it’s just been great.”

He and his family are looking forward to Thanksgiving.

“We’re all going to come together, put our phones down and just enjoy a nice meal together,” Lockhart said.

In fact, Lockhart’s family and the Millers are already planning ahead for future festivities together.

“We’ll be doing Christmas there,” Lockhart said.

“This isn’t the end; this is just the beginning of a longtime friendship, family relationship,” Marcia Miller said. “It is just incredible.”

The Millers said they are especially grateful this Thanksgiving.

“I gained a friend out of all of this,” Guy Miller said.

Lockhart, who has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for about a year, said although the incident that brought the families together was unfortunate, he feels lucky to have the Millers in his life.

“It’s really been a blessing,” he said. “I never expected any of this.”

Lockhart hopes that his story will remind people to lend a hand whenever an opportunity arises.

“No matter where you are, no matter what you’re doing, you always have time to stop and help,” he said. “Beautiful things can happen.”