GREENWOOD, S.C. (AP) - When Craig and Mary Helen Ticknor visited Craig’s brother, Terry, in Ponderosa Heights to continue working on their RV in the backyard, they did not think they would be administering CPR to him.
“I never had to do CPR, and I’m not trained in CPR,” Mary Helen said. “My husband had a CPR course about 40 years ago.”
Terry recalled going into Mary Helen and Craig’s RV to check on them, but he wasn’t feeling well that day so he told them he was going to go take a nap inside. Mary Helen asked him to come back for a minute to talk, and then he collapsed in the RV.
“Oh it was terrifying,” Mary Helen said. “His face turned blue.”
Craig began administering CPR while Mary Helen took a deep breath and called 911. Craig gave Terry CPR for 10 to 15 minutes until EMTs came, defibrillated him twice and transported him to Self Regional Medical Center. He was put on a ventilator overnight and remained in the hospital until June 12 when he was cleared to go home.
Mary Helen said he was out of it for a couple days but now he’s doing very well and ready to get back to work in his shop.
“I’m fantastic,” Terry said. “I’m better than I was a week and a half ago.”
Linda Goldstein, Mary Helen’s sister, is a retired ER nurse and she said the chances of somebody having cardiac arrest outside of the hospital and surviving with no residual effects is extremely rare.
“He’s a walking, talking miracle,” she said.
She also found it remarkable how a 74-year-old man with no pre-existing conditions just goes into cardiac arrest, and how two people with no CPR or medical training were able to save his life.
“If it hadn’t been for my brother doing CPR right away then I wouldn’t be here,” Terry said.
Terry now has to wear a medical life vest that monitors his heart continuously, and it will act as a personal defibrillator if he goes into cardiac arrest again.
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