Tamara Perry says that because her luck nearly ran out Tuesday night in Kingston.

She was headed for the ferry for a quiet trip home. But when she drove up to the ticket booth and handed her credit card to the ticket agent she dropped a piece of paper at the same time.

When she opened the door to pick up that piece of paper her foot slipped off the brake.

"I remember the lady in the toll booth saying 'your car is starting to roll.' "

Her open door hit the ticket booth and the door slammed shut on her chest. She was being squeezed and the door was closing tighter as the car continued to roll.

"And just crushed me you know so that I couldn't breath and that's when I passed out."

"The farther this way the car came the tighter the squeeze on her was," said Mike Swinehart a ferry worker who witnessed the accident. He was one of seven people who heard the ticket agent screaming for help and grabbed the front bumper of Tamara's small SUV.

With their combined brute force they dragged it away from the ticket booth wall.

"The people were yelling 'she's not breathing, she's not breathing' so yeah I think it was a life or death situation," said Swinehart.

Tamara says she passed out, woke up to the sounds of people shouting, and then passed out again. When she woke up the woman from the toll both had climbed into the back seat and was holding her hand.

Medics airlifted Tamara to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle fearing she had a crushed sternum or a bruised heart. But after a night of observation she checked out OK.

"I do want to thank each and every person and let them know they made a huge difference in my life," said Tamara.

"Absolutely," said Michele Laboda of North Kitsap Fire and Rescue. "Those bystanders who heard the ticket sellers call made all the difference in our view."

"I'm just thankful she is alive and she's doing well," said Swinehart. "There's no thanks needed from her. I'm sure she would do the same thing."

And actually, she does already do the same thing. Tamara is a nurse. That piece of paper she dropped was her nurses license. Those complete strangers saved the life of a nurse and a mom of two young children.

"They did save my life and I'm eternally grateful as are my two children."

Tamara Perry and North Kitsap Fire and Rescue hope to officially honor the ferry workers and the bystanders who jumped into action to save Tamara's life. Most of them, however, left the scene without anyone being able to get their names.