It's a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and a man getting down on one knee that brought a patient and a couple together at UPMC Mercy.

What Michelle Best of Cook Forest thought would be an easy bike ride landed her in the hospital and in a wheelchair, with surgeons telling her the worst.

"I would either be a quadriplegic when I got out of surgery or I would be dead," Best said.

It was Sept. 5, and Best was trying out her e-bike for the first time, a ride she figured would get her outside, as her multiple sclerosis progressed.

She was on a deserted path with no cell service in the woods about a half mile from her home, when she squeezed the front brakes and flipped off into a ditch face forward, feeling her neck snap.

"I immediately prayed to God to send someone quick," Best said.

Nearby, Nathan Pascoe had just proposed to his girlfriend, Ashley Cyparski, both of Union Township, and were heading to their campsite, when he saw a bicycle on the side of the road.

"For some reason, I did a double take, and I saw there was a woman laying down next to it, so I slammed on the brakes, I'm like 'Ashley, look!' and we both got out," Pascoe said.

"He not only sent someone, he sent a nurse, paramedic and her EMT fiancé," Best said.

"She was yelling for help with as much strength as she could. You could tell she was tired, and she wasn't moving," Cyparski said.

The medical professionals were able to stabilize Best's neck to help her breathe until an ambulance arrived and first responders' life-flighted her to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh.

After a lengthy surgery and one week there, she went to UPMC Mercy for rehab.

Now, Best can walk on her own and is going home on Friday.

However, just a few days ago, something else happened. Cyparski works at Mercy and learned Best was there all along.

"I got up and I hugged her, and she cried so hard just seeing me being able to get up," Best said.

"There she was in front of me. I never thought I'd ever get to see her again," Cyparski said.

It was a reunion that was weeks in the making, and an invitation to a wedding.

As the three of them looked at Cyparski's ring Thursday afternoon, sitting at a table, they reminisced on the special bond they'll have forever.

"I told them both, they're my kids. They're always going to be my kids. No matter what," Best said.