One Life to Save: ABC Soap Alum Rides to the Rescue

It can feel a bit rare these days to hear good news, but trust us when we say it is out there. And when good news intersects with one of our passions, it makes everything even better. That's certainly how we felt when we saw a touching piece on Eddie Alderson, who played Bo and Nora's son, Matthew, on One Life to Live, reuniting with the man whose life he quite literally saved.

Since exiting the daytime world, Alderson has turned to public service, at one point working first as an EMT officer and now as an Amtrak police officer in Philadelphia. And both of those jobs put him at the right place at the right time to save the life of Amtrak conductor Steven Smart.

ABC's Action News in Philadelphia shared the story as they were on scene for Alderson and Smart's reunion. The longtime Amtrak conductor stopped breathing a couple weeks back at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, and Alderson wasted no time in jumping into action, giving him CPR while they waited for paramedics.

The CPR worked and Smart survived long enough to be rushed to the hospital. His fiancée shared with Six ABC that doctors were sure that even if he pulled through, he'd be in a vegetative state. Smart not only made it through, he woke up and, after two weeks in the ICU, shared a touching reunion with Alderson. Watch them come together for the first time since that fateful day below.

While Smart calls Alderson a "real-life angel," the former One Life to Live actor is too humble for such praise, insisting he was just doing his job. "You always hope for a good outcome," Alderson shared, "and luckily for him, it turned out OK."

Alderson may insist he's not a hero, but we beg to differ - and we know the man whose life he saved does as well.