Bus driver recovered and reunited with bystanders who helped save her life after cardiac emergency

AMSTERDAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A remarkable recovery and a happy reunion for a woman who suffered a cardiac event while behind the wheel of a bus. On the day she was training to be a bus driver, Yvonne Chambers went into cardiac arrest. This week, she was reunited with the people who jumped into action for a heartfelt reunion.

The lobby at the Sentinel, an assisted living facility in Amsterdam, was filled with love and hugs as Chambers exclaimed, "It's so wonderful to see you!"

In the unlikeliest of connections, three strangers are now connected for life after a life-threatening situation.

Chambers explained, "I didn't know what happened to me."

But Prince Asante, the lone Siena College student on a shuttle bus in May 2023, remembers it clearly. "All of a sudden, I felt the bus swerve side by side," he recalled.

Chambers had suffered a cardiac arrest. Asante remembered, "She was passed out. I didn't feel any pulse, and I was like, 'Oh yeah, she's not breathing.' Then all of a sudden, I realized we have to do something. This woman is not gonna die in my hands."

He started CPR on Chambers immediately. Driving behind the bus that day was Renee, who stopped by the Sentinel for a special reunion. It was Chambers's first time being able to meet her and thank her in person.

Renee had jumped out of her car and boarded the bus to help as she waited for the ambulance to arrive.

"It was a situation where every second mattered," Prince explained.

Chambers woke up in the hospital not being able to speak or remember much of anything.

"I remember getting out of bed, and I couldn't even walk. I couldn't even remember my own children," Chambers said.

Her oldest sister, Lamata Bennett, added, "Gradually, with time, and as we go and see her, she would remember my name and remember me. It was so hard to see her have to learn to count 1 -2 -3."

Under the watchful eyes of her three  sisters, Yvonne relearned  the basics, the names of her children, birth dates and even how to work a phone again. The recovery and rehab took months of work.

"I went to see her; she did not remember anything. She doesn't know who I was, my name, nothing," Asante explained.

That didn't stop him from checking up on the woman he helped save. "I'm a man of faith. I believe in faith," he said. "I'm like, yeah, I was there for a reason. I was there for this purpose, and I'm glad I was.

Chambers added, "I think they were on that bus because of me. I think God intervened to have them on that bus that day to save me."

These days, her heart is as strong as ever and at the center of her rallying spirit is her family. The sisters who watched her recover -- and two new members who helped save her.

"I feel like I found another family," Asante told NEWS10.

Both Asante and Renee are now in the medical field. Both bystanders now turned family touted the importance of learning lifesaving CPR skills.

Asante, who graduated from Siena, now works at Regeneron to help produce lifesaving medicine and vaccines. Renee is a nurse. The bus driver who was training with Chambers that day also stays in touch with her.