WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - There was an emotional reunion at Polar Park in Worcester Tuesday night after a local umpire met up with the doctor who saved his life at a recent little league game.
Korey Pontbriand was umpiring the District 5 Jimmy Fund semi-finals in Oxford a few weeks ago when he was hit in the neck by a baseball.
“The pitcher pitched, the batter fouled the ball off,” Pontbriand said. “It actually hit the plate and brushed the catchers shoulder and hit me underneath my throat protector.”
In the fourth inning, he lost his voice. Then, in the ninth, he was approached by surgeon Jennifer Lafemina.
Her son was playing that day and noticed Pontbriand was unwell.
“She called me over to the fence and told me i was showing some concerning signs that she didn’t like,” he said. “I was stumbling while iI walked, I was kind of in and out of it.”
Pontbriand made it off the field, where he lost consciousness.
“From what I was told, from the many people I had spoken to, at that point my pulse was not there,” Pontbriand said. “I wasn’t breathing, and Jen jumped in immediately and started doing CPR.”
Pontbriand is recovered now and calls Lafemina his guardian angel – commemorating her act of service with a new tattoo on his arm.
He said he will always be grateful for her quick actions.
“It amazes me how people just jump into action when something goes wrong, and their instinct just automatically takes over,” he said.
While Lafemina was saving lives off the field, her son saved the game on the diamond, scoring the winning run.
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