'You guys saved my life': N.S. man pays tribute to first responders
Nearly five months after suffering a cardiac event, a fortunate Maritimer has been reunited with the first responders who saved his life.
On Oct. 2, 2021, Dan Eddy was working in his backyard. After lifting a couple of heavy cement blocks, he began to feel some pain.
“I said, ‘I must have just pulled a muscle or something,’ and I went over and grabbed the other one, about 75 feet away, and I made it to the stairs with that one and then I immediately collapsed on the stairs,” said Eddy.
“The joke in our family is my wife never answers her phone, but I called her from my cell and said, ‘Can you come up? Something’s wrong, I’m in trouble.’”
Eddy’s daughter then called 911.
“The 911 operator was very calm and kept her calm. Within just a few minutes, the paramedics were at my door,” said Eddy.
“My first thought was, ‘Wow, they were here really quick.”
Paramedic Heather MacEachern says she had been dispatched to a call in another part of Fall River, N.S., that day which did not require transport.
“We saw the call come in, so we just turned around and continued towards it because we knew we were the closest unit,” said MacEachern.
Phil McCormick was the other paramedic on scene. He says as soon as they saw Eddy they could tell he was having a significant cardiac event.
“Those two paramedics, and the 911 operator, they saved my life,” said Eddy.
“When I got to the OR and they put a stent in, the first thing the cardiologist said is, ‘Those two paramedics saved your life. Twenty more minutes and you would not have made it.’”
Because of the care he received, Eddy wants to bring attention to the work done by paramedics and 911 operators.
“They are the most underrated, underpaid staff in North America,” said Eddy.
“We don’t have enough paramedics in our province and I think what we can do to incentivise them to come here and stay, like tax breaks and things that we’ve done for other industries, I think it’s long overdue.”
He fought back his emotions Friday as he expressed his gratitude to the first responders.
“You guys saved my life,” he said.
Brian Stockdale is one of the people Eddy thanked. A paramedic for over 25 years, he is a medical communications officer at the EHS Medical Communications Centre.
“This is the first time I’ve been involved with something like this. It’s quite awesome,” said Stockdale.
MacEachern says she became a paramedic in hopes of changing at least one person’s life.
“So, the fact that we were able to do that for this call and to meet him here today is pretty extraordinary,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.