A New York woman is reuniting with the good Samaritan who helped save her from a burning car in June.
The two opened up in a new interview with "Good Morning America" on Friday.
"I wouldn't be here had it not been for Nathan [Felix]," Mary Frances McLoryd said.
McLoryd, 69, had been driving along a remote highway on Sunday, June 8, at around 4 a.m. in Chester, New York, when she fell asleep at the wheel. McLoryd said her SUV ended up rolling over and pinning her inside as it caught on fire.
Police rescue 68-year-old woman from burning car after it flips over on highway"I remember trying to protect myself, like just putting my hands and my arms up and turning my body to the right side because that's where the heat was coming from," McLoryd recalled. "There's no way I was getting out of that car."
Nathan Felix, 23, said he was passing by at the time, and when he noticed McLoryd's car, he jumped out to help.
"I could hear somebody screaming," Felix said. "And then she's like, 'Help me! Help me!' I'm just ... hearing her in there panicking, so I'm trying to do whatever I can to possibly assist her."
Good Samaritan and officers save woman from burning carThe Town of Chester Police Department released body camera video footage from the incident, which shows first responders arriving at the scene and handing Felix a fire extinguisher. Felix is then seen sprinting toward the fire while an officer uses a window-breaking device to crack open the car's sunroof, the outlet through which Felix was able to pull McLoryd out of the car.
"Once we got her out, she was like, screaming and everything. I was like, 'Thank you, God.' That's all I was saying in my head -- 'Thank you, God,'" Felix recalled.
McLoryd said she credits her in-car safety system for recognizing that she was in an accident and dialing 911.
The 69-year-old said she sustained severe burns that covered more than 20% of her body and stayed in the hospital for over a month before getting to return home earlier this week and reuniting with Felix. Though she still has a long road to recovery and medical bills and doctor's appointments to think about, McLoryd said she's forever grateful for Felix and now considers him a nephew.
"It was overwhelming what this young man did," she said. "What young person runs up to a vehicle that is now caught on fire and still tries to get somebody out of it? I can't thank Nathan enough. I don't even have words to thank him. I don't know how to thank him. Other than to say, if you ever need me, I'm always here in your life."
