Woman Searching For 'Angels' Who Saved Her After Heart Attack Behind Wheel
LYNN (CBS) - Maureen Kidney is just out of the hospital with an implanted defibrillator – but no memory of the heroics that saved her.
"I've been lucky my whole life," she said. "I really have."
She certainly was on the afternoon of May 30th, when she picked up friend Kathy Savage from an overnight stay at Salem Hospital, and began to drive back to Lynn.
But ironically, it was Maureen's health that would falter on the trip home.
"She went into full cardiac arrest," Savage said.
Fortunately, Maureen was already riding the brake as she slumped over unconscious on Highland Avenue in Salem, and Kathy reached over to grab the wheel, guiding the car to the roadside.
"I was probably what you would call hysterical," Savage admitted.
But in what seemed like seconds, a woman wearing a red top was outside the car.
"She appeared out of nowhere," Savage said. "And she said 'Are you in distress?' And I said 'Yes, we need help!'"
That mystery Good Samaritan was a lifesaver.
She immediately called 911, before snatching open Maureen's door, reclining the seat, and launching CPR right there in the car.
Eventually, she would drag Maureen out onto the pavement.
"The doctors have already said that without the CPR Maureen wouldn't have made it," Savage says.
A nurse and her two police officer sons also stopped to help – well before the ambulance arrived.
And now, Maureen is on a mission to identify the people she calls her "angels" -- asking anyone with information that might help to come forward.
"I'd just like to find them and thank them," she told WBZ, "since they're the reason I'm alive!"
Of course, she doesn't want to forget the contribution of her longtime friend Kathy.
"She's been a good friend for 40 years," says Maureen. "And she certainly came through for me that afternoon."
Maureen also credits the rosary beads that are never far from her side.
"I have a lot of faith," she says with smile. "That's why I know it's a miracle."
And so at age 76, Maureen plans to embrace her second chance at life.
"I had flat lined," she says. "I can't believe it."
