A B.C. woman who suffered a massive heart attack while driving last month has been reunited with the two men that saved her life.
Forty-four-year-old Jana Mitchell of Langley was driving along Highway 1 in Coquitlam when her heart stopped on July 21. Strangers Courtney Smith and Ron MacLeod averted certain tragedy by boxing in her car and then performing CPR.
Mitchell, a single mother of three, met her two saviours for the first time this week.
"I'm speechless. I'm so speechless. You guys are just unbelievable human beings," Mitchell said, wrapping her arms around the two men.
Both heroes told her she looked "awesome" -- at least compared to the last time they saw her.
On the day of the crisis, Smith was driving down Highway 1 and saw Mitchell's car veering out of control at 80 kilometres per hour as she sat unconscious behind the wheel. He swerved his van to box her in and stop it from crashing into a concrete barrier.
MacLeod saw the emergency unfold and joined the fray, helping Smith pull the unconscious woman from her car and then giving her CPR until paramedics arrived.
Mitchell can't remember anything about the heart attack. Just two weeks ago, she suffered a second one, and she's learned she suffers from a rare heart condition. Titanium stents are now keeping her alive.
She said she was overwhelmed by the efforts of the two Good Samaritans to save her life.
"It's a really unbelievable feeling knowing there is someone connected to me like that in my life. I think I'll always be connected with those two gentlemen," Mitchell said.
MacLeod, an Agricultural Land Commission investigator, and salesman Smith say they were just happy to help.
"I think I did something that I hope most people would do, which is help somebody else," MacLeod said.
"Just being a good person -- that's how I want to be known," Smith said. "Being a hero is not part of that."
The three say they plan to stay in touch, while Mitchell's doctors work to prevent another heart attack.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger
