Two community members reunite after an unexpected circumstance

MARDELA SPRINGS, Md. – The last time Mandi Smith and Bryan Bowman saw each other, she was saving his life.

“Once I realized that I didn’t have a heartbeat, he wasn’t breathing, it just all clicked in. I didn’t think about it, I just started moving,” Smith said.

Bowman collapsed behind the wheel. Unconscious, his heart was shutting down. But Smith, his Guardian angel, was driving behind him and came to his aid, giving him chest compressions for seven minutes, until help arrived.

“I didn’t know if I would know the outcome,” Smith said. “I’m glad that he’s here, and that he’s OK. That’s all I kind of hoped.”

Bowman said he is here, thanks to her bravery. Two months later, it’s all the little moments that he’s thankful to have.

“I just spend more time with my wife. I’m here because of her,” Bowman said. “I have a whole different outlook on life than I did before. it makes me appreciate the little things.”

Those seven minutes of chest compressions bought him the time to spend with his loved ones, all because Smith had been in the right place at the right time.

“I just thank God that it came together the way it did,” Bowman said. “She was behind me for some reason- I was there for some reason, and things happened at the right time.”

“Once I found out that he was OK, it was a good feeling,” Smith added.

Now, after the incident, they’re trading out the lifesaving compressions for a heartwarming hug– looking back on the unexpected circumstances that brought them together.

“It’s not every day that somebody saves you, and I was always one of those people that said, ‘That wouldn’t happen to me.’ But guess what? It could happen to anybody,” Bowman said.