Josibelk “Josi” Aponte’s and Peter Getz met each other when Josi faced death while she was inside a burning house back in 1998.
She was only five years old when the horrific accident happened. After she was pulled from the residential fire, she was unconscious and unable to breath, that’s when Gets intervened and performed life-saving CPR in the back of his patrol car while his partner was driving to the emergency room.
They haven’t seen each other since then until 19 years later when their paths crossed one again at another critical – but much more joyous– juncture in her life.
On May 17, the 23-year-old Josi graduated magna cum laude from Eastern Connecticut State University, and the now-retired Hartford police detective was right there in the stands.
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“I wanted to share my graduation with everyone who’s important to me, who have been there for me, and who helped me through tough times … I almost died, but I was given a second chance at life,” she said. “And it was because of Peter and all the authorities, everyone who came to help that day.”
Josi couldn’t remember everything happened that day, but she does remember trying to wake in vain her uncle, Jofrey Aponte, with whom she was staying in the family’s Hartford apartment while her mother was working. A firefighter gave her to Getz, then a patrolman, who performed CPR while his partner rushed them to a nearby hospital.
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Her uncle, unfortunately, died from his bad injuries. Josi woke up few hours later with the teddy bear that Getz gave her while she was recovering in the hospital.
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She and her family eventually moved from Hartford and lost touch with Getz – but curiosity got the best of her a couple years ago, and she finally tracked him down on Facebook.
She moved along with her family from Hartford and couldn’t keep in touch with Getz.. After several years, she was still curious about her hero and decided to meet him once again. She tracked him down on Facebook.
Getz remains humble about his part in the ordeal, saying he’s just “one cog in that wheel,” which also included dispatchers, firefighters and hospital staff.
“That’s how this process is supposed to work, that’s why we wear [the] uniforms we wear,” he added. Still, to be able to watch her obtain an accounting degree and move forward so successfully “makes my heart beat faster.”
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