Lexi Lindsey may still just be a high school student, but she’s already shown the world that she has a long career in the medical world ahead of her.

Lexi is a senior at Bedford North Lawrence High School in Bedford, Indiana who is also taking a class at the North Lawrence Career Center (NLCC) to help prepare her for a future career. The course trained Lexi in CPR, basic first aid, and how to respond in medical emergencies, and this came in handy in a way that she never expected earlier this month.

Lexi and a friend were on the highway driving to a Justin Timberlake concert in Indianapolis when they noticed a car parked on the side of the road. Then, they saw the distressed driver walking out into traffic, clearly trying to get the attention of anyone that he could.

“He started waving his arms and he fell to the ground,” Lexi recalled. “I screamed, ‘Stop the car!’”

Lexi ran over to him and pulled the man to safety on the shoulder of the highway. As she called 911, the man managed to tell her that he had a heart attack earlier this year and now had an internal cardiac defibrillator. He explained that he was suffering from a heart arrhythmia, and then he started having a seizure as well.

Lexi immediately put her training into action, rolling him onto his side and observing him to see if he needed CPR. She waited with the man and kept him calm until EMTs arrived on the scene.

“He told me and the EMT told me that I saved his life,” Lexi said, adding that she later learned that the man was Brian Putt, a Navy veteran and a father of two.

As he recovered in the hospital, Brian learned Lexi’s name, and he desperately wanted to repay her for what she did. When he got out of the hospital the next week, Brian surprised Lexi by showing up at her NLCC classroom unannounced with a bouquet of flowers for her. Lexi could not help but cry as soon as she saw him!

“I’ve seen grown men in the Navy break down in stressful situations,” Brian told Lexi in front of her class. “What made you stop? It’s something called character. What is that? It’s doing the right thing when no one else will. I was disoriented from the shocks of the defibrillator, but as soon as I saw the car pull up, I had a sense of calm and I knew I’d be all right.”

And Brian did not stop there! He took out a pin showing dolphins next to a submarine, an award that is given to members of the Navy sub fleet.

“For 20 years, I was a submarine guy. The proudest day of my submarine career was when I earned my dolphins. You’re not given these, you earn them. I was awarded them October 19, 1993,” he said. Then he presented it to Lexi and said, “You earned them.”

Were it not for Lexi’s quick thinking and selfless nature, Brian’s family would be mourning a loved one right now. Whatever Lexi decides to do in her career, she will succeed because of her true compassionate character.