47-year-old Jackie Shashaty suffered a heart attack around 11:30 p.m., on Saturday, Jan. 9, collapsed on her bedroom floor, and began to have a seizure.
Shashaty’s boyfriend, Cedar Grove Police Officer Scott Moody, was inside her house, heard the fall, and raced into the bedroom where he discovered Shashaty had no pulse.
Her heart had stopped beating.
Moody performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Shashaty, a mother of two, and called 911.
Moody also called Shashaty’s sister, Marge Quirk, a Jersey City school nurse, who lives just up the road from Shashaty.
Officers and emergency personnel responded to Shashaty’s Rugby Road home in a matter of minutes.
By the time she arrived on the scene, Quirk was watching members of Cedar Grove’s Ambulance and Rescue Squad shock Shashaty’s heart with a defibrillator.
“I knew she was not alive at that moment,” said Quirk.
Shashaty said her heart was shocked a total of six times by the defibrillator before it slowly began to beat and a faint pulse returned.
Cedar Grove Ambulance and Rescue Squad members transported Shashaty to Mountainside Hospital in Montclair.
A few days after having the implantation of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, Shashaty was released from the hospital. She is now recovering at her home along with the help of her two children.
Although she had a busy schedule on Jan. 9, Shashaty said she has no recollection of anything that occurred before or after the heart attack.
“I didn’t see anything,” said Shashaty after being revived. “I don’t have a recollection of anything.”
When asked if she had a message to the emergency personnel who helped resuscitate her, Shashaty said, “Thank you for saving my life. My kids still have their mom.”
