A New Hampshire man who suffered a heart attack while on his motorcycle last month is talking about the harrowing moments before he crashed.
Steven Lafontaine welcomed NBC10 Boston into his Manchester apartment when he met the woman who saved his life.
"I've already said numerous prayers, 'Thank you, God,' that she was there to save my life," Lafontaine said through tears.
Moments before our interview, Lafontaine met Tiffany White, the woman he calls his "guardian angel."
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Wednesday's reunion was the second time White saw Lafontaine. The first time, Lafontaine was lying lifeless in the middle of Manchester Road in Derry, New Hampshire.
"Your bike was closer to the median, you were in the middle of the road," White told him.
The 62-year-old was on his motorcycle, driving the busy stretch in Derry, when he had a heart attack and dumped his bike.
"As soon as I started taking a left, everything went dark," Lafontaine said.
That's the last thing he could remember before waking up in the hospital.
White, a former ICU nurse, was driving by and stopped to help.
"I go up, and I check you out, and you were dead," she told Lafontaine. "There was no pulse, you were not breathing."
She immediately started chest compressions and continued for several minutes until first responders arrived.
"You took a couple of breaths, and it was like magic happened," she said.
Paramedics then used a defibrillator before rushing Lafontaine to the hospital.
"I came in and said, 'It's not your time, you're not allowed to leave,'" said his 20-year-old daughter, Destiny. "We got him to open his eyes after that, and it felt amazing."
Lafontaine underwent surgery and has several broken ribs. But now, thanks to White, he's recovering and hoping to get back on his beloved bike someday.
"My guardian angel just happened to be right there at the scene when I wiped out," Lafontaine said.
"I don't feel like I'm a guardian angel," White responded. "I just feel like I'm a good human, you know, everyone can be a good human."
Lafontaine says after all this, he wants to be a better human.
He plans to take CPR classes so that, if needed, he too could jump in and save a life.
