18 Years Later, Girl Reunites in the Best Way Possible With the Officer Who Saved Her Life

On graduation day, you want the people there who matter most to you — especially if one of those people is a cop who saved your life.

Josibelk Aponte reunited with the now-retired police officer who resuscitated her from cardiac arrest during an apartment fire in 1998 at her graduation ceremony at Eastern Connecticut State University, according to the Hartford Courant.

Aponte was 5 years old when her family apartment caught fire 18 years ago. Peter Getz rushed to the scene as a firefighter threw Aponte into his arms — she had gone into cardiac arrest but medics hadn't arrived yet, so he gave her CPR as his partner drove to the hospital. By the time they reached the emergency room, Aponte was breathing on her own. Her uncle Jofrey, who was also home at the time, did not survive.

Getz made sure Aponte and the rest of her family were taken care of following the fire; he and other officers got businesses to donate furniture and collected money to send Jofrey's remains back home to Venezuela.

Two years ago, Aponte found him on Facebook and started a friendship. The two now meet often and she certainly wanted him there when she received her undergraduate degree from accounting before starting a job at a local firm.

"To see the outcome, to see how successful she's been, makes my heart beat faster," Getz told the Courant.