(gentle music)
- I woke up with some chest pain and I
got dressed and walked downstairs and decided,
well, I'm gonna try resting a little bit
and I couldn't get comfortable sitting on a chair.
Whatever I did, I couldn't get comfortable.
I walked out to the rescue truck and I dragged the oxygen
off the truck and as I bent down, I felt some chest pain
and I remembered back to a conversation I had with a
Bat Chief friend of mine that had a heart attack
this summer and he said it was the worst chest pain
he had ever felt and I was thinkin',
"Well ya know, this is the worst chest pain I ever felt."
Got on the PA for the fire station and got my guys
outta bed.
They got the bag out and they checked my BP.
My BP was 150 over 100.
My Captain was running to activate EMS.
Those guys came in.
They knew they had a fireman in trouble.
Knew they had a fireman in trouble
and they went to work, buddy.
They put on an EKG so quickly and ran a strip.
He said, "It's an MI buddy," and I said,
"Man, I can't believe it, I'm healthy."
I remember grabbing Mack's hand and just saying,
"Mack, pray for me 'cause
"ya know, I know I'm in trouble."
Mack did and we arrived at the hospital
and probably less than five minutes, they rolled me
into the ER and there was 25 people there to help,
seemed like.
I remember at that point, my eyesight diminishing.
I remember just,
I remember going for a pain of 10 in my chest to
nothing.
I remember it was absolutely pain free.
I remember that
it was beautiful, it was relaxing.
I remember I couldn't hear anything.
And I remember thinking I'm dreaming.
(snaps) Like that, I opened up my eyes and I look
at everybody over me and all the doctors and nurses
and I looked to my left and I said to the nurse,
"What just happened?"
She said, "You've just been defibrillated."
That's when I knew,
that's when I knew my life was in the balance.
They took me to the cath lab.
I remember Doctor Sanjay telling me
he's gonna do my procedure and I remember all the crew
prepping me and getting me ready and that's all
my memory until I came out and my family was by me.
I knew my life was saved.
I thank God every day because everything,
everything lined up perfectly
and I just, I wanna thank them.
I am so thankful that they do what they do
every single day, ya know, every single day they save lives.
Nobody really knows it, ya know?
I've been a fireman for 27 years
and I felt necessary, it felt necessary to go back
and just thank them and praise them for what they do
'cause I know they're dedicated.
I know they put in hours and hours
and I know Doctor Sanjay, I mean, I know he went through
years and years of training to do what he did.
I just felt it necessary to thank
the entire staff of the ER.
(gentle music)