CHARLOTTE, N.C. — First responders handle tens of thousands of calls over the years. These calls do not always have happy endings and some are more memorable than others.
On Christmas Eve of 2012, a response to a cardiac arrest call left a lasting impression on the firefighters and medics involved. Ten years later, the first responders reunited with the patient whose life they saved.
That night, while asleep, Johnnie Davis started having a medical emergency. His wife called 911 and followed instructions to perform CPR, but it wasn’t enough.
“She witnessed me take my last breath in her hands and die literally,” Davis said.
Even once the first responders took over, his heart was stopped for over 16 minutes. Bill Petrea was one of the first firefighters to arrive.“I was just doing my job,” he told Davis.
“I’m still here because of you and your hard work. Those 300 chest compressions that you did on me,” Davis told the first responders who answered the call on Christmas Eve 2012.
Reuniting after 10 years was emotional for everyone.
Twelve hundred chest compressions and six shocks from an AED eventually brought Davis back.
Medic officials say in the end, it was a picture-perfect call, a new mural in Medic headquarters is a reminder of that night. It shows Davis, his wife, the paramedic who was in charge that night and a telecommunicator.
“Every aspect of the system that cares for our high acuity patients was really performing very high level that night,” Nick Heasley, the paramedic there that night said.
As he closes out a decade of a second shot at life, Davis knows who is responsible for what was his Christmas miracle.
“I wouldn’t be here today without them. Every single person played a role in me being here today. It was just one person, it was a textbook save,” Davis said.
He now advocates for more people to know CPR and sits on the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation board. You can learn more by visiting their website.