East Orange Woman Grateful For Postal Worker's Life Saving Heroics

EAST ORANGE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A New Jersey woman delivered an early gift to a postal worker after some life-saving heroics.

As CBS2's Christine Sloan reported, it was a way to say "thank you" for saving her father's life.

"I love this guy. He's family," Dianne Cook-Rock said.

A live was saved because they crossed paths when they weren't supposed to.

"I believe it was God making sure I was at the right place at the right time," Garfield Scott said.

Scott, a postal worker, was delivering mail earlier than usual when Cook-Rock was screaming for help. Her 87-year-old father, Ellis Simonson, was inside of his East Orange apartment and wasn't responding to phone calls.

There was a chain lock on his door, so Scott called 911 and sprang into action.

Scott, a former professional football player, is also a trained EMT.

"I did a few emergency breathing, open up his airway," he said.

That was in October. The 87-year-old is now okay after having a stroke. Scott was there at a surprise celebration.

"That's when it really hit me that this was really a miracle," he said.

After saving Simonson, Scott went about his work delivering mail, and never told anyone about his heroic efforts. That is until Simonson's daughter sent a note with a poem, to his boss.

"What I wrote for Garfield was 'My Mailman The Hero,'" she said.

Scott's boss was impressed by his actions and his attitude.

"The only thing I can think of is how humble that he was," Betty Banks, East Orange Post Master said.

"He's a hero, he is the biggest hero ever," Cook-Rock said.

A hero who forever changed her life. Simonson's daughter said his prognosis is very good.