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Angels on Highway: Lifesaving Women Found

Man thanks the women who saved his life

It turns out Larry Miles had two angels on a New Jersey highway August 8 when a motorcycle accident severed his femoral artery and almost took his life.

Two women worked together to tie a tourniquet around his leg that doctors say prevented him from bleeding out.

Debbie Parisi, a hospice nurse for Samaritan Healthcare, was driving to her aunt’s house to go swimming with her children that Friday morning.

When she came upon the accident, Parisi said the first thought to cross her mind was: "Oh man, this guy's in trouble."

Blood was pouring from Miles’ leg following a collision outside a Wawa on Route 30 in Winslow Township, New Jersey.

Parisi pulled over, sat down next to him and asked if anybody had a shirt to make a tourniquet.

“I don’t know why, but I just knew I had to stop the bleeding,” Parisi said.

Standing nearby, Maria Lopez offered her husband’s jacket.

The second woman to come to his aid, Lopez works at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital and has training to deal with emergencies, including first aid and CPR. 

“By the time I got there, there was too much blood,” said Lopez, who was driving to the Wawa Friday morning when she saw Miles lying in the middle of the road. “Nothing was being done.”

Unable to tie the jacket tightly enough on their own, the two women used a stick to constrict the blood flow as much as possible.

Minutes later, paramedics arrived and took Miles to Cooper Trauma Center in Camden. He remained hospitalized Friday evening, recovering from multiple surgeries to repair his severed artery.

Parisi and Lopez saw the story NBC10 published Thursday and reached out to Miles on Facebook. Parisi visited him Friday, and Lopez had plans to do the same.

Doctors said they expect Miles to make a full recovery, which would not have been possible without the help of Parisi and Lopez.

“There’s good people out there that aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty — or in this case, their clothes bloody,” Miles said. “Girls rule, man!”

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