On Dec. 20, Vitale was outside his New Providence home talking to a neighbor, watching his two young children play in the snow, when the otherwise healthy, then 43-year-old’s heart stopped working.
Tom Vitale the Survivor
His Kendrick Road neighbor called 911 and grabbed her husband, who started performing CPR on Vitale.
The New Providence police arrived within minutes, carrying an automated external defibrillator, which administers an electric shock, in an attempt to jolt the heart back to life.
“I was blue. I had no pulse or anything,” recalled Vitale, who said he doesn’t remember anything from the late December day, but pieced together the incident through his wife and neighbors. “I essentially died on that Saturday — or at least somebody unplugged me.”
After the defibrillator restored a weak rhythm, medics transported Vitale to Overlook Hospital.
Vitale awoke several days later. “The first big memory I have is waking up literally on Christmas Day and hearing the Today Show saying ‘Merry Christmas’” said Vitale.
A week later, Vitale walked out of the hospital without complications. He returned to work as a management consultant more than a month ago. And on Monday, he joined Schwartz, and other doctors instrumental in his care, on the golf course.
The game benefited the Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute at Overlook Hospital — one of the facilities instrumental in saving Vitale’s life.
