Watch CBS News

New Bride, In Wedding Gown, Gives CPR To Woman On Street

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It was almost midnight when newlyweds Andrew Nixon and Julie Stroyne Nixon left their wedding reception at the Pennsylvanian, just across the road.

"We're walking down about here, ready to check into the hotel," says Andrew Nixon, just outside the Westin Convention Center.

"We were just about to go through the doors," Julie adds, "and then we heard somebody scream, 'Does anybody know CPR? Is anybody a doctor'?'"

The couple headed toward the bench where they found a woman, barely breathing.

The brand new bride knew what she was doing. After all, she's a trauma nurse at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.

"I looked over, and I think my nursing instincts took over," she recalls "And I bolted over to the bench to see if she was all right."

Still in her wedding gown, she began to perform CPR.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter

"I started compressions right away. They told me she didn't have a pulse."

Gradually, the woman came back from the brink of death.

"She was mumbling, finally, and she tried to get up," says the nurse/bride. "And I just kind of like held her hand, and I tried to make sure she didn't fall."

The woman was doing much better when paramedics arrived to take her to the hospital. This couple has known each other quite a while.

"We grew up playing tennis together," Julie says. "I was six and he was probably eight."

"Both of us wound up winning state championships," says her husband. "She actually won playing doubles with my younger sister."

He proposed to his future bride on a tennis court. But nothing quite compares with saving a life.

"It really did seem that we were in the right place at the right time," Julie says.

"It was a heroic act, but I've known her for long enough, I'm not surprised at all," her husband adds

Julie admits that she "never knew that would happen on my wedding night!"

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.