DUXBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - A rescue reunion played out in Duxbury Wednesday as a man was able to thank the off-duty nurse who saved his life when he went into cardiac arrest during a bike ride earlier this month.
Paul McDermott collapsed on Sept 1. Luckily for him, Kerry Sanson was out for a walk with her dog in the area of Elm Street and acted quickly.
“It just blows my mind that somehow I was the beneficiary of all this good fortune,” McDermott said.
A nurse at Boston Medical Center, Sanson administered CPR while waiting for first responders to arrive.
“I am only here today because of the wonderful support and treatment that I got from all of these first responders standing behind me,” McDermott said, flanked by a crowd of emergency personnel.
McDermott specifically credited Sanson.
“Nobody else would have been able to do anything to help me were it not for what Kerry did for me,” he said.
Sanson shared her perspective on her life-saving actions, describing how she first called 911.
“[I] put it on speaker, threw that on the ground and then started the chest compressions,” she said.
“I never expected it in the middle of the woods being able to save someone,” she said. “Obviously, when at the hospital, it is a controlled environment and this was very uncontrolled.”
Duxbury Fire Chief Rob Reardon said fast work from Sanson and first responders was crucial in saving McDermott’s life.
“Everybody you see behind me was a part of that chain,” he said. “If one link was missing that day, we wouldn’t have had the outcome that we had that day.”
First responders said it is important for everyone to learn CPR.
McDermott underwent bypass surgery and was released from the hospital four days after his cardiac arrest.
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