We've all heard the saying in the right place at the right time.

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis joins us with the amazing story of one area man, who truly lived that out.

- Okay, so picture this, you are somewhere by yourself, could be home or driving or anywhere else, and you experience a medical emergency.

What happens?

Can you get to a phone and what are your chances of getting help before it's too late?

The man we're about to introduce you to had one of those medical emergencies.

But if it weren't for multiple factors, including being at the right place at the right time, he likely wouldn't have made it.

(upbeat music) He'd been training.

- I was ready.

- [Jason] Practically nonstop.

- I was gonna do it.

- [Jason] About to tackle one of the world's toughest endurance challenges.

Nothing was gonna stop me until that December 13th and then it happened.

(EKG beeping) I've asked myself a question.

Is this it?

- [Jason] His heart stopping For nearly a full minute.

- We realized that he had flat lined, so the eyes had rolled back.

- He was not responsive.

- [Jason] Two strangers in just the right place at just the right time.

- We didn't know who he was at that point.

- [Jason] Working together in a frantic effort to save a man's life.

- That's when I said to Chip, we have have to do this.

- I would not be sitting here today if God hadn't sent Chip and Jennifer to be there at that time.

(singing in foreign language) - [Jason] Val Kovalenko grew up in Ukraine.

Admittedly, he wasn't an athlete.

- Growing up, I've never played any sports.

- [Jason] Nor was he a scholar.

- I didn't go to college.

I barely finished high school.

I actually dropped out.

- [Jason] He immigrated to the United States 25 years ago.

- I've proved myself over and over again that hard work pays off.

- [Jason] With a wife, five kids, and a successful home construction company, life was good, but Val felt like something was still missing.

So at age 38, he started working out.

- My weight actually has gone up to about 207 pounds.

Once I started training, I've got my weight down to 165 pounds.

(feet thudding) - [Jason] Losing weight was at first the primary goal.

Then it turned into something more.

- I wanted to accomplish something big by my 40th.

- [Jason] Val set out to complete a triathlon, a multi-sport endurance challenge consisting of swimming, cycling, and running.

- I said, if I am gonna train enough and hard for it, I will be able to achieve it - [Jason] And achieve it he did.

Val completing his first full Ironman in November, but it came though with a warning.

- A day before that Ironman, I've actually started experiencing some burning pain in my arm, extending to my chest.

- [Jason] That same radiating pain returned every day afterwards.

But Val kept pushing through.

- I went to see a doctor and I've explained what was going on, and he said that it was probably a tightness in my shoulder or something that was, I needed to see maybe a chiropractor.

- [Jason] His sights now set on completing an Ultraman.

It's a triathlon times two.

- Ultraman is a 321 mile race that I was prepping for.

I've spent around 500 hours training for that race.

That morning December 13th started just like a regular morning.

- [Jason] Val went to the gym that morning for his workout swim nearby two people he had never met.

Jennifer Carter, a nurse and lifetime fitness trainer, Chip Halbert, a retired Special Forces medic.

- God saved my life in December of 1987 when I was wounded, when I was in the military and I was supposed to be dead.

- [Jason] Getting his laps in, Val's pain returned, this time worse than ever.

- All of a sudden it was getting hard to breathe.

It was getting blurry in my eyes.

- [Jason] Val was having a heart attack.

Then cardiac arrest, his heart stopped beating.

(monitor beeping) - It's hard to relive it.

When I try to remember I'm reliving those moments.

(Val exhales) - Saw that he was in distress and then kind of jumped in, pulled him outta the pool and began our adventure.

- My body was staying behind and my spirit was leaving my body.

- So when I came upon Val, he was very blue, very gray.

- We could tell he was incoherent at the time.

- It then looked like his eyes kind of like glazed over.

- It was just these few seconds of this desperate, desperate, deepest cry of my soul.

I just said, "God, please help me."

- [Jason] Chip and Jennifer, two complete strangers.

Now, instant teammates with Val's life on the line.

- You know the fact that Chip and I happened to be there when I got on the scene, and I announced that I was a nurse and Chip said he was Special Forces.

I had such a level of confidence.

He knew exactly what to do.

- Jennifer said, we need to begin CPR, and I immediately began chest compressions.

- He was working with me to bring you back to life.

- I knew that we could do this.

I knew we had it.

- [Jason] They grabbed a nearby automated external defibrillator or AED machine, shocking Val multiple times.

- The AED is gonna read whether there's a pulse or not, and there was none.

So that's why it does the shock.

- [Jason] After about 45 seconds, Val's heart restarted.

- I could feel that somebody was doing CPR.

Just wanna say thank you.

Everybody who prayed for me and who thought of me and who continues to pray for me.

- [Jason] Call it divine intervention or something else.

So many variables came into play on the morning of Friday the 13th.

- He's supposed to be swimming earlier.

She could have like, "I'm not gonna, it's too late.

I'm not gonna do it."

I'm not supposed to be teaching the class.

Teaching the class, I should have packed up and gone.

But I went to go talk to somebody else, which is the only reason that we saw Val.

- [Jason] Cardiologist at Atrium Health Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute placed a stent by Val's heart and put him on blood thinners.

- I had a 95% blockage in my artery.

- [Jason] And gave him the news that his days as a triathlete were over.

- I think she got mad.

She is like, "You were dead."

And she's like, "There's no way."

- [Jason] A fair trade considering how lucky he is to be alive and with no long-term effects.

- What truly matters is the things that we don't treasure sometimes and it's the family.

It's the relationship with God.

- [Jason] And he now has two new best friends in Chip and Jennifer.

- It's wonderful.

I mean, I hate that it was under these circumstances, but I'm not sure that I would've ever met Val or Chip without this happening.

- My doors are always open and I want them here for all my holidays and my celebrations 'cause they're part of my family.

I appreciate you saving my life.

Thank you.

- Any day.

Any day.

- Thank you.