PAINESVILLE -- The last thing Noel Bottesch remembers is feeling dizzy. Next she was unconscious driving her car into 12 feet of water in the freezing Grand River.
The cold water shocked her awake but the car was already half full of water.
That's when her survival instinct kicked in and she remembered watching a TV show about how to get out of a submerged vehicle.
Then she realized she didn't have time to wait for the car to fill with water because it was tipping over.
She used to take a lot of grief from friends who would kid her about not getting power windows on her Kia. But she says that hand crank is the first thing that saved her.
She managed to squeeze out of the window, but hypothermia had already set in and she couldn't move her legs.
"I was moving my arms to move forward but I wasn't going anywhere. My legs were, like, frozen,"
She could hear people on shore yelling at her to swim but then "he" appeared.
"All of a sudden this guy comes out of nowhere. I call him my angel because if he wasn't there then, I really don't think the outcome would be what it is today," Noel says.
Noel has no idea who he is but he knew what he was doing.
"He was bald, Caucasian and he was like, 'hold on to me, sweetie, I got you,'" Noel remembers.
Another Good Samaritan helped pull her up the muddy shore and then others took over.
"They cut off my clothes, got blankets from their car, and they all warmed me up," Noel says.
When paramedics arrived, she ended up going to MetroHealth Medical Center. She will continue receiving treatment there for a condition that causes blackouts.
Eleven years ago, Noel was diagnosed with a condition called Syncope. She has a very low heart rate, averaging around 40 beats per minute.
She also has very low blood pressure. It took a year for doctors to finally diagnose the problem after Noel had a series of fainting spells. They tied it to a heart condition.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, Syncope is a common condition, affecting 3 percent of men and 3.5 percent of women at some point in life. It becomes more prevalent with advancing age, occurring in as many as 6 percent of people over age 75.
Syncope affects patients of all ages, both with and without other medical conditions. But it can be related to either heart or neurological conditions.
Symptoms include:
- "Blacking out"
- Light-headedness
- Falling for no reason
- Dizziness
- Drowsiness
- Grogginess
- Fainting, especially after a meal or after exercise
- Feeling unsteady or weak when standing
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Noel's received dozens of well wishes but she's extremely grateful to all of those strangers who helped to save her life. Especially the man who risked his own for her.
"No one saw him come in, no one saw him leave. If it hadn't been for him, things would be different, I thank him from the bottom of my heart." Noel says.
WKYC-TV