The "first kiss" of the Californian couple was when she practiced CPR on him. They have been in love since then.

When they finished with the waves and left the beach, Montgomery, 56, fell to the ground.

Traynor, a doctor, was confused for a moment. Then she checked and realized that there was no pulse. He had a heart attack.

"I saw it fall, and at first I thought it had stumbled," said Traynor, 45, a professor of medicine at Stanford University and anesthetist who works with pregnancies. at high risk. "I returned it and immediately realized that something was wrong."

She shouted at someone to call 911 and then started CPR. She made an emergency breathing and chest compressions for seven minutes for her blood to circulate before the paramedics arrived. They used a defibrillator three times without success and then carried it in an ambulance.

She was helpless. She did not know at the time that videographer Alexander Baker had set up a time lapse video to record nature on the beach and that all the scary episode was recorded.

"You can see me break down at that time," Traynor said of the video. "I thought:" He's dead, people do not live through that. "I can not believe it happened. How did that happen? he passed? I just felt sad. "

In the ambulance, paramedics used the defibrillator three more times and eventually relaunched Montgomery.

Traynor said she was certain that he was dead and searched his Facebook to try to find his relatives to inform them. She contacted her sister and was shocked to learn that he was alive.

"His sister said," He went out of the process, do you want to talk to him? "" Traynor said. "I burst into tears."

Montgomery, an outdoor man and passionate runner, picked up the phone and apologized for his collapse. The next day, he underwent triple bypass.

Traynor went to the hospital and waited for long hours with Montgomery's family and friends. She had already developed a crush on him before the heart attack and he had told her that he had a crush on her. But their interaction had never been romantic and they decided that they would take things very slowly. But seeing so many members of Montgomery's family and his long-time close friends made him realize how much his new friend was a man of heart.

She was divorced with two children and cautious to start a new relationship. He was divorced too.

"I have seen so many incredible, lovable and kind people who loved her so much," she said. "I have spent time studying what makes a relationship healthy and one of the factors is a person who has good relationships with family and long-term friendships."

After the operation, which was a success, she went to visit her hospital room. He remembered telling him, "Who wants to be with a guy who has had a heart attack, I will not blame you if you run for the hills."

"I'm not going anywhere," she told him.

For Montgomery, it was a turning point.

When she said "I'm not going anywhere," I had the impression that my heart was beginning to heal from the inside, "he said. "I had a quick and wonderful recovery, I think it was because I was madly in love."

Six days later, after they left the hospital, Montgomery returned to Capitola Beach and had his first kiss.

"We consider the CPR our first kiss," said Traynor. "But the day he came out of the hospital, we had our first real kiss."

She told him that there were pictures of him falling to the ground and that the videographer had given him for his personal use. They decided together that they wanted to use it to help people.

"We did not want to put it on Facebook and say," The craziest thing happened last weekend, "said Traynor," We wanted to be intentional about it. "

As their relationship grew stronger, they decided to educate people about the benefits of CPR and try to dispel some myths and fears. One of the greatest, Montgomery said, is that people are afraid of doing more harm than good, so they are reluctant to practice CPR, especially on a stranger.

At that, he points out that when someone does not have a pulse, things can not get worse for them, so it's always worth trying.

They launched the Help-A-Heart Foundation, which offers CPR and awareness classes. Paddle-4-Good, another non-profit association founded by Montgomery, offers adventure activities such as stand-up paddling for underserved populations and people with physical and developmental needs.

Traynor and Montgomery are both certified CPR instructors and recite statistics from the American Heart Association: Every 90 seconds, someone somewhere in the United States dies of sudden cardiac arrest. Bystander CPR can triple the chances of survival. Most heart attacks outside the hospital occur at home, so if you are learning CPR, you are more likely to use it on a family member and save someone's life. One you like.

Since they've started to tell their story publicly, they've received a lot of bad jokes: "You have to get someone's consent before you kiss them" or "Some people will do anything to attract the attention." be careful of a woman ".

They roll their eyes and laugh politely. They do not bother me. Generally, Montgomery said that he was happy to be alive.

"It's a crazy thing – it's the craziest story of my life right now," he said. "I'm happy to be on the safe side."

This article was written by Allison Klein, a Washington Post reporter.