A man was rushed to UAB Hospital Tuesday after he was stabbed in the chest somewhere in downtown Birmingham.

Birmingham police and firefighters responded to Kelly Ingram Park about 1 p.m. on the stabbing call. Once on the scene, they found a man in his 20 suffering from a serious wound.

Thought initially said to be unresponsive, the victim was alert when he was transported to the hospital. His girlfriend was telling him to “be strong.”

Police are trying to determine where the stabbing took place.

Vince Fluker said he was sitting in his work truck finishing paperwork when the victim approached him and asked him to call 911. "He said, ‘I’ve been stabbed and he was bleeding,’'' Fluker said.

Fluker called 911 and then, at the direction of dispatchers, got a towel from his truck and applied pressure to the victim’s chest wound. "He was going in and out,'' Fluker said. “I just called on Jesus and started praying with him.”

Fluker said the wound appeared to be at least two inches deep. "I pray he will be well,'' he said. “It was a serious injury.”

"I want to thank God I was here at this spot at this time,'' Fluker said. “But I’m shook.”