A bus driver who prevented a suicidal woman from jumping off a bridge in Buffalo, New York, has been handed a $10,000 check from Donald Trump and showered with gifts for being a hero.

Darnell Barton, 37, had just picked up 20 high school students on the afternoon of October 18 and was driving over a bridge when he spotted a woman standing along the railing on an overpass, leaning over the traffic below.

He pulled over and counseled her into coming down, leading real estate mogul Trump to write a letter saying: 'Your quick thinking resulted in a life being saved and for that you should be rewarded.'

NFTA bus driver Darnell Barton poses in front of a bus in Buffalo, N.Y. He has been awarded $10,000 from Donald Trump for saving a woman's life

Donald Trump heard about the incident and wrote a letter to Barton, saying he should be rewarded

Although Trump didn't personally hand Barton the reward check, the $10,000 was passed through Mayor Byron W. Brown's office to be handed to the bus driver.

Trump wrote: 'Although I know to you it was just a warm-hearted first response to a dangerous situation... it saved her life.'

Barton was also interviewed by celebrity chef Rachael Ray on Wednesday for her daytime TV show.

Barton has not spoken to the woman he helped save since the incident, but says he plans to do so when the situation deserves.

He has not yet decided what to do with his check but has spoken of starting a foundation.

'I have my personal executive board, called my wife. We haven't sat down and had an opportunity to plan or anything of that nature yet', he said to the Buffalo News.

After the incident in October, Barton said: 'It didn't seem real because what was going on around, traffic and pedestrians were going by as normal.

He stopped in the middle of the bridge, opened his door and yelled out, 'Ma'am are you okay?' When she didn't respond, he got out and approached the young women, who was unresponsive, and put one arm around her.

He told WIVB4: 'She was distraught, she was distant, she was really disconnected.

Strange: Darnell is driving along when he spots the young woman on the other side of the guard rail

Concerned: Barton, known as 'Big Country' stopped in the middle of the bridge, opened his door and yelled out, 'Ma'am are you okay?'

'I grabbed her arm and put my arm around her and said "Do you want to come on this side of the guardrail?", and that was actually the first time she spoke to me she said yes.'

After lifting the woman, who is said to be in her twenties, over the rail, the pair sat on the ground talking until a corrections officer and another woman who said she was a counselor approached and took over.

'It was meant to be,' Barton said. 'I was supposed to be there for her at that moment and I was. I wanted to convey that whatever it was, I'm going to help you through and it's not as serious as jumping onto the 198.

'I feel like I did what I was supposed to do at the time,' Barton said. 'I'm a football guy so when you sit the bench and the coach calls your number, you gotta go in there make a play, do what the play calls for, and I think that's what I did.'

His co-workers call him 'Big Country', a big man with a big heart. When he returned to the bus to finish his route, his passengers gave him a round of applause.

Hero: When she didn't respond, he got out and approached the young women, who was unresponsive, and put one arm around her and lifted her over the rail