JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. -- The mother of a Deer Creek Middle School student says she was in the right place at the right time to help save a young man's life.

Kris Crower says she wasn't planning to leave home that day because she was still recovering from knee surgery.

But that changed when her son Matthew texted her saying he wouldn't be able to meet his younger brother at a nearby elementary school.

"I had just passed the (middle) school when I heard the first gunshot," Crower told 7NEWS. "It sounded like a car backfiring. Then I saw students running and heard the second shot."

The mom, who also happens to be a critical care nurse, yelled for her son to get in the car then took off.

"I heard a voice that said turn around and go back and I whipped a U-turn," she said.

Crower credits God with changing her schedule that day.

She said she parked her car, told her son to stay down, then got out and sprinted on weak knees to one of the injured students.

"He had an obvious gunshot wound to his right chest," she said. "I immediately did a gunshot assessment and put pressure on the wound."

Crower said she noticed that Matthew Thieu's eyes were slightly "vacant."

"He was conscious and talking," she said. "But when I asked him if I could pray with him and for him, his eyes showed brightly and he looked at me and said, 'I'm a Christian.' And I said, 'I am too.'"

Crower's son, Matthew Greenfield, was in his mom's car watching events unfold.

"I was like go mom go," Greenfield told 7NEWS.

When he later learned that Thieu survived the shooting, Greenfield said, "I just thought (mom) was a superhero."

"I'm just glad that I could be there, that I could be there as a nurse, but also as a mom to try to comfort him and let him know that he wasn't alone," Crower said.

Crower, who is using a crutch while recovering from surgery, says she didn't need it Tuesday because of the adrenaline coursing through her system.

She joked about being down on her hands and knees tending to Thieu.

"The snow kept my knees ice-packed," she said.

Although her knees have swelled up a bit since then, she said it was worth it, because she was able to help save a young man's life.

"It's very humbling. I was honored. And it's something that will be with me forever."