"It’s so nice to finally meet you," said Minette Boyd as she hugged Shawn Ring in front of the Monete Fire Department.
The hug is an ending to a chapter that could have been written very differently.
Sunday, August 14th, 2011 a car hit Shawn on Route 122, as he crossed the road to help someone change a tire.
He says Minette was a God send.
"There was an angel looking after me. There’s just nothing else I can say," Ring said.
The last time Shawn and Minette saw each other face to face was at the scene of the accident. Since that Sunday, they've only spoken to each other through Facebook.
Shawn doesn't remember getting hit, only stopping to help a man stranded with a flat tire.
“I was headed northbound, the car was headed northbound that broke down and had went past him originally and turned around right there at Bunker Hill Loop, I came back southbound and parked on the opposite side of where he was,” Shawn explained.
Minette's husband saw the car hit Shawn through his rear view mirror.
They stopped and her instincts kicked in.
In the middle of the road she held Shawn’s hand and applied pressure to his head wound.
"I felt an instant connection with him laying there and talking to him and I tried to talk about his family and about him and he told me he was a firefighter," Boyd said.
He doesn't remember her questions. In fact, he doesn't even remember her on the scene.
"The doctor asked me my name, asked me if you know I knew where I was, I told him I said I can't tell you with the utmost certainty where I am, but I assume I’m at Roanoke memorial."
Shawn was right. He was at Carilion Roanoke Memorial and it was a day after the accident.
He lived to see another day with the help of a complete stranger.
"If she hadn't put that pressure to my head or whatever I could have laid there and bled to death before anybody got there," Shawn said.
"People don't get hit going 55 miles an hour and standing in the middle of the road and survive very often, so I truly believe you have something special to offer.”
Shawn does have something special to offer, because he's a firefighter back to work, helping others just like she helped him.
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