happen and this one surely did. reporter: rosemaries is expected to make a full recovery and is anxious to get back to her old life. i m here for a reason. my job is not done. i have no idea what that job is but i guess i still have work to do. reporter: she is quite a force. she goes in for her tenth surgery tomorrow. don now firmly apart of this family. that was clear. oh, my god. you didn t warn us that we d need tissues. that was so beautiful. thank you. the idea of what one evil man and how many lives he can ruin and and what one brave angel and how many lives he can effect. one of the things he said too was i m a firefighter, but i don t ever meet the people that i help after 34 years, plab sometimes i would check in with a nurse at the hospital just to find out if somebody made it. this is totally different. this was different. alisyn s point, every one of these demonstrations are the worst of humanity, we also see the best of humanity.
life and i blacked out. i do believe god put everybody at the right place at the right time to save her life and don was her guardian angel. reporter: don matthews was separated from his girlfriend karen as the shots rang out. when he saw rosemaries, his 34 years as a los angeles firefighter kicked in. he just kept telling us that we had to leave. you got to run if you want to leave. i promise i will stay with your mom all the way. reporter: how hard is that, though for you to leave your mom there? i ll take a bullet. you don t understand. it s my mom. it s my life. i knew those kids had to leave. it was a bad spot for them to be in. reporter: reluctantly the girls fled. were you ever worried for your own safety? oh, yeah. reporter: he was able to get rosemaries out of harms way into a pickup truck. eventually she was brought to the hospital but it would be hours before rosemaries s family
thank you. without him i wouldn t be here. no doubt. i m looking for rosemaries. so nice to meet you. you too. you couldn t give me a hug the first time. reporter: endless hugs and tears of joy. i m so grateful to you. i m so grateful. reporter: rosemaries s 89-year-old mother embracing the man who saved her daughter. did you think you would see rosemaries again? no. reporter: did you think she s survive? no. reporter: and you re both here together now? yeah. so never give up and miracles
found her. it took a lot of hours. the hardest hours of my whole life. reporter: rosemaries was alive but the mother of four would not be alert for weeks. i don t think i was expected to live, but i m a fighter, i m a warrior. you can t keep me down. i prayed a lot, cried a lot. at one point i thought what life would be like without her. reporter: in the months that followed rosemaries s guardian angel don was never far from the their thoughts. social media brought them together on thanksgiving day, don and steve spoke on cnn. we re waiting for her to get better and we ll get you down here and we ll have a big reunion with you. i ll be happy to come. reporter: after nine surgeries and six months in the hospital, rosemaries is finally ready for that reunion. what do you want to say to him?