Jim Munn, 70, and Herschel Worthy had spare time in August when they drove up for a look at the recently renovated, upscale Mirimichi golf course near Millington.
But on the way, Worthy saw something was wrong with his friend.
“I touched him, and he fell over against the door,” Worthy said.
Worthy wheeled around and pulled onto O.K. Robertson Road, flagging down Burford, Harrifeld and Nichols, who were headed to lunch after training at the academy near U.S. 51.
They put him in an ambulance, but Munn was in full cardiac arrest.
Burford performed CPR — “I pumped that chest hard” — while the paramedics administered drugs and shocked Munn at least six times with a defibrillator.
Then they rushed him to Methodist University Hospital.
Despite their efforts, they were pretty sure he wasn’t going to make it, and they often never find out how their patients do because of confidentiality laws.
But Munn, now with a small automatic defibrillator implanted in his chest, was determined that they know their long shot paid off.
He traveled from California for a gathering the fire department hosted Friday for him and the firefighters.
Munn knows he wouldn’t be alive without the firefighters’ determination not to let him go.
“What words do you use to thank somebody who saved your life?” Munn asked, wiping away a tear. “There’s not any. It’s just handshakes and hugs.”
“Had they not done all the things they did, I would have been dead on arrival,” said Munn, whose only lingering side-effect is a 10-day gap in his memory and a sore chest from Burford’s vigorous CPR.
“Every time I breathe and it hurts, I say, ‘Thank you,’” he said.
