It all started when Leon Kogler, 78, suddenly slouched over on his side while kneeling in prayer during the church service at the Immaculate Conception Church in Sheboygan.
Leon Kogler (2nd from left) the Survivor
Those around him thought he’d fainted, but Shelley Hittman, 36, — who teaches CPR for the Red Cross and is a trained first responder — knew better.
“We took one look and said, ‘This isn’t good,’” Hittman said.
She and her husband Todd, 38, who’s a volunteer firefighter and trained EMT, performed CPR and shocked him with the church’s just-installed automated defibrillator.
Delorme, a Sheboygan firefighter, helped with CPR.
By the time the ambulance arrived, Kogler was breathing and had a heartbeat.
Kogler was later transported to Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee, where he underwent bypass surgery.
“To me they’re heroes,” said Kogler, with his wife Helen, 75. “They saved my life.”
