MADISON, Wis. -- If anyone questions whether or not guardian angels exist, St. Mary's Hospital volunteer Pete Gehrke has his opinions. He said he's alive today thanks to his guardian angel.

"You hate to use the word fate, but so many things had to happen that day to keep me here," Gehrke said.

That day was May 18. Gehrke's day started normal. He was carrying money from the gift shop to the St. Mary's volunteer center.

"I was walking up the ramp there past cardiac, and I couldn't seem to catch my breath," Gehrke said. "So, I waited a little bit, walked a little bit farther."

Gehrke took a break from his walk on a nearby bench. He had no idea that he was going into congestive heart failure. At that moment, Amy Scherer, a co-worker and human resources manger, walked past. She said she knew Gehrke well and noticed something wasn't right.

"He's always up and moving and he looked distressed and so I went over and asked if he was OK," Scherer said.

Gehrke responded that he couldn't breathe. Scherer grabbed a nearby wheelchair, and ran Gehrke to the emergency room.

"I was afraid he was going to die -- that's all I kept thinking," Scherer said.

Scherer would later learn the reason why she's now considered a guardian angel. Doctors said Gehrke was just one or two minutes away from death.

He spent 44 days in the hospital and he's now just about fully recovered, but he constantly thinks back to what might have happened, if not for his friend Amy who just happened to be walking by.

"I would have been dead," Gehrke said. "If she wouldn't have just run me right down (to the ER). So, she'll always be special to me. She'll be a guardian angel. "

"It's probably bonded us for life," Scherer said. "It's a wonderful feeling to know that you saved someone's life."

Gehrke jokingly called Scherer his girlfriend and it's just fine with his wife, Carolyn. She said Scherer saved her husband's life and she's eternally grateful for what she did that day.

All joking aside, congestive heart failure is a very serious condition. In essence, it's a condition in which the heart just can't pump enough blood to the body's organ. It can interfere with breathing and can also affect the kidneys. In some cases, like Gehrke's, it can be fatal in just a matter of minutes.

Gehrke has been in rehabilitation for the last few weeks. He has recently been cleared to return to St. Mary's to volunteer and said he plans to do so very soon.

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