Newlywed trauma nurse Julie Stroyne Nixon was steps away from her wedding reception on Saturday, June 11, when she spotted an unconscious woman on a nearby park bench in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Without thinking twice, the bride — who was still in her wedding dress — immediately shifted from bride to nurse, and attempted to revive the woman until paramedics arrived.
Stroyne had married her new husband, Andrew Nixon, earlier that day, and she and some of her family members were leaving their wedding reception when they spotted the unconscious woman.
“We were walking across the street to check into the hotel. We had our after party there,” Stroyne Nixon recalled to ABC News. “Somebody screamed, ‘Does anyone know CPR? Is anyone a doctor?’”
The 24-year-old medical professional said it was a gut reaction. “My nursing instincts just took over,” she told the network. “To be honest I don’t remember running. I just threw my purse and my flowers and just went into action.”
The bride, a trauma nurse at UPMC-Presbyterian Hospital, was still wearing her white lace wedding dress when she performed CPR. “Somebody told me she didn’t have a pulse so I jumped into action and started doing compressions,” she shared. “It got stronger as I kept feeling for it which was a good sign. Her respirations were very shallow but I think the action of me giving compressions kind of woke her up.”
This bride performed CPR on a stranger after her wedding reception.
The paramedics arrived shortly after and took the woman away by ambulance. “All I have to say is, thank goodness I had one champagne with the toast and that’s it,” she concluded to ABC News. “I didn’t drink at all. Thank goodness I was able to help.”
