One Kentucky woman is living her life with a new appreciation for what a gift each day truly is. Mercedes Boggs was driving to work on the morning of January 18 when her car hit an icy patch and flipped over the side of a bridge, into frigid water below. The impact knocked Boggs unconscious. Flipped on it’s side, freezing water was pouring into the car through the shattered windshield. Speaking to local CBS affiliate WYMT, Boggs said:

“At that point, I hit my head because I don’t remember anything. It knocked me out so I don’t remember anything except waking up from the water to the creek it was really cold, so it woke me up and when I woke up and I came to, I realized that my windshield was shattered and I was just like in panic mode.”

After regaining consciousness, Boggs began to panic as she realized she was trapped. Just then, she noticed a stranger coming down the embankment towards her, and all of a sudden she was filled with peace and knew everything would be ok.

“When I saw him, it was just like everything was fine. I wasn’t even scared anymore. I just knew that that was like my saving grace,” said Boggs. “Kids look up to like batman and superman and like those superheroes. That’s how I look at John now. He will forever be my hero. He was the person that saved my life.”

Coal miner John Burke was headed home from his late-night shift when he spotted the wreckage and immediately jumped into action. As he reached Boggs, he pulled her out of the car and helped her walk up the hill. Mere seconds later, the car burst into flames.

“30 seconds, we turned around and the car went up into flames like literally, he saved my life,” said Boggs. “Had I just sat there in that car, that would have been me. I would have been what was burning.”

Boggs was then rushed to the hospital and miraculously suffered only non-serious injuries. When emergency personnel arrived, Burke quietly got in his car and headed on home. While at the hospital Boggs realized she had no idea who the man was that saved her life, and had no way of contacting him with her thanks. She put her story on facebook asking her story to be shared in hopes someone would be able to identify her Good Samaritan.

 

Her post quickly spread through the social media platform, being shared over 900 times within a few hours. Soon after she made her initial post, Burke reached out to her with a message.

“He said he hadn’t been able to sleep all day that he was wondering how that girl was that was in that car accident so he was just as thankful to hear from me as I was to hear from him,” Mercedes shared.

While Burke downplays his role, Boggs knows she has him to thank for being alive today.

“He’s like, ‘It’s really fine. It was no big deal I just kinda stopped and helped,’ but like to my family and to me he saved my life. Looking at the pictures, my driver’s seat was burnt up like that was the entire driver’s seat was burnt up. It was gone,” said Boggs.