By Dan Ferguson - Surrey North Delta Leader

When she heard screaming coming from the downstairs basement suite in her Surrey home on Oct. 29, 2006, Shalinder Basran went to investigate with her adult daughter Tajinder.

When they forced their way inside, they saw Navreet Waraich bleeding on the floor.

Navreet's husband Jatinder was standing over her with a knife in his hand.

"Save me," Navreet begged.

"Please save me."

The young mother of a five-year-old boy and her husband were renting the suite from Basran.

When Tajinder pulled out her cell phone to dial 911, Jatinder moved toward her.

Shalinder stepped between the man and her daughter and began shouting.

"Look what you've done," she roared.

"Are you happy with what you have done? Look what you have done in our house."

Her daughter backed out of the room and called police.

When Jatinder tried to resume attacking his critically injured wife, Shalinder grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him away.

He dropped the knife.

She convinced him to go outside where they waited together for police to arrive.

Afterwards, Shalinder said she wasn't thinking about her own safety.

"I was trying to my best to get him out of the room."

Navreet Waraich did not survive her injuries and her husband was later convicted of second-degree murder.

Las Thursday, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced a list of 19 people who would receive the prestigious Carnegie medial.

Shalinder Basran was the sole Canadian.

The medal is awarded to people "who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others," the announcement said.

Commission President Mark Laskow said each of the awardees (or their next of kin in cases where someone died making a rescue attempt) will also receive a financial grant.

The 105-year-old fund, established by industrialist/philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, has awarded $31.2 million in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance to more than 9,000 people.