DRAPER — On the playground at Draper City Park a little over four years ago, Maria Forbes’ life took a turn for the worse.

A near-death experience was captured on video, and so was the moment a man came to her rescue. Now, her head is still spinning, trying to find him so she can say thank you.

On July 15, 2012, Forbes was on a piece of equipment that spun around like a top when she got tangled in some rope.

“They had a rope wrapped at the base of it and then they would pull it so it would spin like a top,” Forbes said. “I remember it starting to spin, then I was just out.”

A friend was shooting video on her cellphone and caught the moment Forbes was tangled in the ropes and unconscious. Her friend stopped recording as soon she realized how serious the situation was.

“All the blood went to my head and my face was bleeding out of my pores,” Forbes said.

Then out of nowhere, a man with dark hair and beard, wearing a light-colored T-shirt, ran to Forbes and stopped the ride.

At the hospital, doctors told her she was lucky. If she had been spinning much longer, she likely would have died. She says a stranger saved her life.

“He literally stopped it at the perfect second for me to still be alive and walking and talking,” Forbes said.

In the last four years, Forbes said she's done a lot. “I graduated. I’ve done hair and makeup for short films,” she said.

She also became a mother and made a lot of memories with her family, memories that wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the stranger who saved her.

Wiping away tears she said, “I feel bad that I’ve never been able to thank him for just what may seem tiny to him, but it was huge to me.”

Forbes said the day after the accident at the park on 12500 S. 1300 East, the city removed that piece of equipment.

Email: nvowell@deseretnews.com