Heart attack survivor visits Clark County firehouse to say thank you

Paul Davies should be dead.

While he was walking around the south end of Las Vegas on Aug. 13 last year, Davies' heart suddenly stopped working, and he collapsed onto the blistering sidewalk near Eastern Avenue and Oquendo Road.

A stranger saw him fall and rushed to help. The man immediately started CPR on Davies and continued for about five minutes until firefighters from Clark County's Station 19 arrived.

When the heart stops during a cardiac arrest, most people have about four to six minutes to be revived, according to Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Jon Klassen. After that, survival rates plummet, and those who live typically suffer severe brain damage.

Davies' heart sat still for nearly 15 minutes. Finally, it responded to the defibrillator and kicked back to life.

"They didn't save my life," Davies, 58, said Thursday. "They actually gave me my life back."

Davies, who originally hails from Manchester City, England, has no memory of the week before the heart attack or the week after.

He was told he was put into a medically induced coma, but likewise has no recollection of it. The backs of his arms and legs are scarred from where the scorching August sidewalk burned his skin, but he remembers nothing of the heat.

There is one thing he knows about that week after his episode.

"It was the best sleep I've ever had," Davies said Thursday as he visited some of the firefighters who helped save him.

Davies was one of 783 cardiac arrest victims Clark County firefighters treated last year. Only a handful ended as well as Davies' case.

"They typically don't survive when you go into arrest out in the field," Klassen said.

Much of Davies' survival has been attributed to the man who started CPR right after he collapsed.

"Had that not happened, (Davies) would have been a statistic," Klassen said. "Early access and early CPR is the key to the whole thing, and all the pieces fell into place that day."

Exactly who that stranger was remains a mystery.

Kelly Claridy, captain of Station 19, said he was told the man was a retired firefighter, but never had the chance to ask him.

"I turned around to look for him, and he was gone," Claridy said of the day of Davies' heart attack.

And while Davies knows little about the man who first worked on him, he wanted to show his appreciation to the firefighters who helped revive him.

Davies has dealt with several complications since his cardiac arrest, including open heart surgery, recurring blood clots and even a mild stroke just three weeks ago.

But he knows those complications are still far better than the alternative, and he has silently thanked the crew who gave him his life back every morning for the past year.

On Thursday, Davies went to Station 19 to thank those firefighters in person, and even grabbed a few pictures with them so that he can have faces to put to those daily thanks.

"They're part of my life," Davies said.

"It's a pity they couldn't have done it to someone nice," Davies said with a laugh, "...instead of an a------ like me."

Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead.