SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) — Lisa Brunetti will never forget the night that changed her life forever.

It was January 11, 2022.

Brunetti was driving down Route 1 in South Kingstown when she saw a car speeding straight toward her.

"I realized somebody was coming at me and I tried to swerve, but it was just too late," Brunetti explained.

The wrong-way driver, a 46-year-old man, crashed head-on into Brunetti's car.

Brunetti wound up trapped inside her vehicle.

"I thought to myself, 'Am I dying tonight? Is this how it ends?'" Brunetti recalled.

Dozens of first responders rushed to Brunetti's aid that night, including Mike Hourihan and Nicki King, a paramedic and nurse with Boston Med Flight.

"We can usually predict injuries based on what the condition of the cars were," Hourihan said. "[The cars] were catastrophically destroyed."

The man who hit Brunetti was pronounced dead at the scene.

Brunetti was eventually cut out of her mangled vehicle and rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, where she was put in a medically-induced coma.

She woke up the next evening to learn that both of her arms, her legs and several of her ribs were broken. She also suffered a ruptured diaphragm and partially-collapsed lung.

Brunetti never saw the two first responders who flew to her rescue until nearly six months later, when she attended a fundraiser in Narragansett organized to help with her medical expenses.

Somehow, word got out to Hourihan about the benefit. But he had little to go on and was unsure if she had passed and it was a memorial, or a celebration of her survival.

"It's so cliché, but something in me said, 'this is meaningful and you need to pay attention and ask more questions and even travel to Rhode Island to go to this benefit,'" Hourihan said.

Brunetti was shocked to see Hourihan's face again.

"I turned around and next thing I knew he was kneeling in front of me," Brunetti said. "He said 'do you remember who I am?' and I just lost it at that point. I cried tears of joy, got up and hugged him and just said 'thank you so much for saving me.'"

Brunetti asked Hourihan how he found out about the fundraiser, his answer was simple: It was "universe juice."

Hourihan explained to Brunetti that "universe juice" was the series of serendipitous events that brought them back together. He told her how rare it is for first responders to see their patients after the fact, and that seeing her doing so well "refills their cup" so they can continue helping others.

"There are a lot of calls that affect us long-term, maybe more so than we realize in the moment," King admitted. "We have to really focus on our mental health and protecting that and utilizing the resources that we have around us."

Hourihan's term "universe juice" stuck with Brunetti, as did the need to pay it forward.

Brunetti, along with the help of Hourihan and King, launched a nonprofit organization aptly named Universe Juice.

Universe Juice, which officially launched back in August, only has one goal: "Reuniting those who needed care with those who were there."

"So, whether it's a survivor like myself, a family member or a first responder who wants to find out what happened — say 'thank you,' [find out] if that is person OK — we want to help facilitate the meeting of those people," Brunetti explained.

Anyone interested in doing so can submit a "reunion application" online. The nonprofit will first review and verify the application before proceeding.

Brunetti said the nonprofit then researches and attempts to contact the parties involved, get them to sign waivers if they're interested in meeting and, if all goes according to plan, facilitate a reunion.

Though Brunetti, Hourihan and King may have met three years ago as strangers, the trio is now like family thanks to universe juice.