Alice Modine got to properly thank her "guardian angel" Fabio Franca, the man who rescued her from her sinking car in a lake in Boca Raton, Florida.
Modine, 94, was driving in a heavy rainstorm on May 19 when she attempted to pull off to the shoulder, but instead drove into the lake near the Hilton Boca Raton Suites, the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reported, and then she didn’t have the strength to get out of the sinking car as the water rose to her chest.
Franca, 46, who was driving nearby with his two sons, told the Sun Sentinel he saw Modine's Toyota leave the road and immediately believed that she was in trouble.
"I'm familiar with that area so I thought 'There's nothing there but a lake,'" Franca said. "The reason I went back was because I was like 'Man, that could be my grandma.'"
Franca said he was meant to be at that time and place, noting that he had picked up one of his sons from his brother's home, but they were delayed – delayed long enough for him to become a hero, WPTV reported.
While Franca's oldest son called 911, he went into the lake and got Modine's door open.
"I hadn't panicked," Modine said, according to the Sun Sentinel. "I figured I'm quite old, I've had a wonderful life, no regrets. I wasn't ready to go, but I figured if this is my time, so be it."
Franca, though, was able to get Modine out of the sinking vehicle and carry her out of the lake to safety as emergency personnel arrived. Modine said in the commotion of the accident, she didn't get a chance to thank Franca.
"You were the guardian angel that looks out for me," Modine told Franca after he and his wife arrived at her home on Sunday, chatting about the accident and rescue. ""'Helping' is an understatement."
Modine said it was her granddaughter who followed up with officials to find Franca so they could meet again.
"I wanted to acknowledge that out of the goodness of his heart he saved my life and he didn't know me," Modine told WPTV.
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