After 7 years reporting for CBS News in New York, Susan came home to Pittsburgh and joined KDKA-TV last fall.

Susan Koeppen the Survivor

Life was kind of chaotic, but in a good way. She was busy with work, busy with her husband Jim; and especially with their three little kids. On top of all that, Susan had begun training for a half-marathon. She’d just run a 5K in October; and on November 20th, she hooked up with her friends and fellow runners, Gabey Gosman and Beth Sutton. “Hey let’s go out for a couple of miles, do a couple miles on a Sunday morning,” Susan recounts. “Go home, go on with our day.”

It seemed like a good plan — at least until the women were on the home stretch on Negley Avenue in Shadyside. Beth had just asked Susan if she was OK, having noticed that she didn’t look good. “She said ‘ No, no. Old girl’s gonna power through.’ I said alright so we kept running.”

In fact, Beth says Susan surged ahead of her friends; but then, stopped. “[She] put her hands on her knees and kind of bent over like she was trying to catch her breath, then she put her right hand back and kind of sat herself back down on the ground and lay down. And knowing Susan, she’s kinda funny anyways, so I… ran upon her and said , ‘Susan, that was quite a burst of energy you had there,’ and she was gasping for air just like she was winded and out of breath. And I bent over her and I looked down. I said, ‘Do you need some water?’ and she didn’t respond. She was still gasping for air, so I put my arm underneath her back and I lifted her up cause I had a water bottle on my arm and I said – I looked at her again, I said, ‘Oh my gosh, Gabey, there’s something wrong,’ and at that point her eyes rolled in the back of her head and I laid her down and she started to convulse.”

Gabey happens to be a physician — a fertility specialist. As a doctor, she knew this was a serious situation; but it was still hard for her to comprehend. “I think there’s an element of denial because it’s a friend who’s young and healthy, and there’s like a bunch of ‘this is not happening.’”

But it quickly became clear that it was a life or death emergency and they needed help. They flagged down Vanessa Franco and Ranmal Samarasinghe, who pulled over to find Susan in cardiac arrest and turning blue.

As third year medical students, they’d done CPR plenty of times — on mannequins; but never on a human being. “I was taking her pulse and watching her breathe while [Vanessa] was doing the compressions,” Ranmal explained. “And I was just trying so hard,” Vanessa added, “and I kept yelling her name ‘cause someone told me her name was Susan, so I just kept yelling, ‘Come on, come on Susan!’… I was terrified of losing her and I mean, I mean, I don’t know — I just went into automatic mode and just like did everything I could.”

Responding to a neighbor’s 911 call, Lt. Dan Elias’ crew from the city’s Engine 8 arrived. “We jumped out of the rig and pretty much, there wasn’t a word spoken, really.”

Elias took over the compressions, while William Gorham and John Mares hooked up an automatic external defibrillator. They shocked Susan’s heart, right there on the sidewalk; but even after, to Vanessa, it didn’t look good. Maybe she remembered learning that nine out of ten people who suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital don’t make it.

“I’ve seen people get shocked and suddenly come, you know, have a lot more life to them — and she wasn’t,” Vanessa explained, “and I was like, I was just deathly afraid for her.”

Everyone there was afraid; except for Susan. “It didn’t really happen to me; it did, but it didn’t,” Susan recalled. “I feel sorry for these guys and for my husband. They were with me, she was cradling me in her arms as I was dying — that’s something she’s never gonna forget and she’s not gonna get that out of her mind; and my husband ran to the scene and saw me on the ground. He’s never gonna forget that. They can’t get it out of their minds, but for me it was just black.”

Because she didn’t come to, the immediate fear as she arrived at Shadyside Hospital was brain damage. No one had to explain that to Susan’s husband, Jim O’Toole — himself an M.D. He estimated that Susan’s heart had stopped or been short-circuiting for about six minutes. “The terrifying thing — aside from the whole experience — is when you get outside of five minutes, the potential for severe brain injury goes up significantly ,” Jim added, “and if you get beyond 7 minutes, meaningful recovery is not expected.”

Doctors then began chilling her body — a protective therapy that greatly reduced her need for oxygen.

Her fate would be a mystery for at least 24 hours. “That whole time frame, I have no idea what’s gonna be at the end of it,” added Jim. “I don’t know what her brain function’s going to be — is it going to be Susan or some, some awfully intangible version of her that’s not the woman I married — and that was as tough as anything.”

His thoughts turned to their three children. “I had to legitimately decide or think about whether or not I was capable of being a single father of three, the oldest of which was 6, and having that be a legitimate thought and having to concretely think about that and then think about what the next step would be is not an easy thing to think about.”

As Susan emerged from the therapeutic hypothermia, she gradually became more responsive. Jim was there when her respirator was removed and she spoke for the first time.

She didn’t know she was in the hospital or what had happened to put her there.

“The only word that really explains it is desperation,” Jim said. “I went from that to being the happiest man on the planet, because I realized we had just been lucky enough to survive through something we had no business surviving through.”

“We talk about it a lot, which is actually — is therapeutic, you know.” Susan said — choking up a little. “You know, I have not gotten emotional at all about it, but sitting here with these guys and knowing that, you now, we just went for a run that day. We’re just three moms chugging along and you know, I went down for the count. How does that happen? Wow. But I’m here. Obviously, it wasn’t my time.”

This was not a typical heart attack due to blocked arteries or an unhealthy lifestyle. Doctors blamed it on a heart abnormality Susan knew about. She now has a new little “appliance” in her chest and she’s facing heart surgery to repair a faulty cardiac valve.

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Ottawa paramedics said a 61-year-old man was playing hockey at the Kanata Recreation Complex when he collapsed around 10:30 p.m. Friday.

Off-duty firefighter Pat Aubry skated over, felt he had no pulse and immediately asked for someone to call 911 and get the public access defibrillator, according to Ottawa Fire Services.

“I was assessing him and as I was assessing him his eyes rolled back and he went purple, so I started CPR,” said firefighter Pat Aubry.

CPR and one shock from the defibrillator were delivered, and paramedics said the man’s pulse was back when they arrived.

“We set it up on him and the machine did what it was supposed to do,” Aubry said.

He was taken to hospital conscious and is in stable condition.

Aubry, who looked after the patient’s children while their mother was at the hospital, said he’s done CPR plenty of times on the job.

Still, he insists the accolades aren’t his alone.

“(People say) ‘Thanks a lot Pat, you’re the guy that saved him,’” he said. “I said no, it was a team effort, everybody helped.”

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That was the case at the Nov. 11 when the quick work of emergency personnel and effective use of a public access defibrillator saved the life of an Orleans man at the Smiths Falls Memorial Community Centre.

Joe McGrath was there to watch his grandson Connor play a Central Canada Hockey League game for the hometown Bears against the visiting Cumberland Grads. Towards the end of the first period, the gentleman passed out after his heart stopped as a result of cardiac arrhythmia.

Almost immediately, volunteer firefighter Paul Bisonette left his spot at the rink and came to his aid. He administered CPR while awaiting the arrival of the defibrillator that was on site at the rink.

Equipment manager Tom Arnold knew exactly where it was located and left the players bench to retrieve the vital equipment and rush it to the scene.

By then, Bears’ trainer Dale McCabe, a Lanark County paramedic, was also on hand and ready to place the pads and administer the initial shock to get the heart beating again.

Within seconds after resuming CPR, the gentleman’s breathing returned and he was even able to utter some words to those around him.

Having returned to life, emergency personnel were able to transport Mr. McGrath across the road to the Smiths Falls hospital before he was transferred to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in Ottawa.

Some might call it a miracle. That so many capable individuals would be on site and be ready to take action to save this person’s life is truly remarkable. There are no words, Mr. McGrath says, to describe the thanks he has for all of them.

Craig Nedell, Robert Mancinelli & Jerry Wainio the Saviours

He had no pulse.

He was lifeless.

Angel Caguana, 23, of Brockton and another roofer had been struck by an electrical current when a ladder they were moving off a house in Bridgewater fell back and came in contact with nearby utility wires.

Fire Lt. Robert Mancinelli, who was among the first emergency crews to arrive on the scene, said Caguana had no pulse.

“I’ve never had anything this serious,” Mancinelli, a 24-year fire veteran, recalled later.

Mancinelli, 47, and firefighters Jerry Wainio, 32, and Craig Nedell, 46, worked on Caguana with a defibrillator, which gives a therapeutic dose of electrical energy to the heart to start it beating again.

As bystanders watched, the rescue workers shocked Caguana once with the defibrillator and administered CPR for about five minutes before they finally got a pulse, fire officials said. All three are paramedics.

Wainio said he has worked on “a lot of people” and “most don’t come back (with a pulse).”

Caguana “was really young and that’s a huge contributing factor. He actually left here with a pulse and breathing on his own,” Wainio said.

Caguana, still unconscious, was picked up by a medical helicopter at the St. Thomas Aquinas Church parking lot on Center Street and flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with serious injuries.

The hospital could not provide a condition for him on Wednesday. The Fire Department said Wednesday evening that he is in serious condition, but would probably not sustain any permanent neurological damage. However, he did suffer some severe burns, according to the Fire Department.

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But as it happened, Herberger, a city firefighter and former longtime paramedic, was at the right place at the right time. It was Oct. 24 and he and his family were returning home from a vacation in Florida. They were at Orlando International Airport about to get something to eat.

Dan Herberger the Saviour

“I saw a lady collapse and heard there was some seizure activity,” he said Thursday. “It was a woman at a jewelry kiosk. I heard someone ask, ‘is she breathing?’ I went over there and took her pulse. She didn’t have one.”

Herberger began CPR on the woman as another traveler came over and identified herself as a nurse. Herberger had asked for an automated external defibrillator, which he figured would be somewhere in the airport.

The nurse unpacked the device and she and Herberger put the patches on the unconscious woman’s chest. He then waited for the AED to charge before pressing the button to shock her. There was a tense moment when the machine’s voice kept urging him to press the button, he said.

He and the nurse knew enough to stay clear so as not to get any of the residual jolt, he said. After the shock, he checked again. The woman had “a really strong, regular pulse.”

Meanwhile his wife was in line buying lunch at one food counter while his father was over at another one. His group also included his mom and three children.

“My wife is a nurse practitioner and when she saw me, she motioned ‘do you need me over there?’” he said. “I said no, just get my food.”

Despite the seriousness of the moment, he couldn’t help but think about getting his meal and catching the flight. He didn’t want to belittle the action, he said, but it really was no big deal. Not one to publicize his own good deeds, Herberger dropped the news to a co-worker, who in turn shared it with Chief Jim Maxwell.

“Dan’s efforts led to the woman leaving the terminal with a pulse,” Maxwell said.

Herberger, 38, joined the department in May 2002. During this incident, he was most impressed by how onlookers knew what a defibrillator was and that someone knew where to get it. He also felt the swift reaction of his training.

“You have the instinct to go into survival mode as a firefighter,” he said. “My years of experience definitely helps. Maybe 15 years ago as a bystander with no equipment, I may have been more unsure.”

His wife Cindy said it was “nice for me to see him in that other role,” besides husband and father. Working at a hospital in Buffalo, she has never been called to perform a medical service in public. She understood that it was something her husband would naturally do.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Dan got involved, because that’s the kind of person that he is,” she said. “I was proud of him.”

The family made its flight, but not without a note of irony, she said. There was an announcement that a life-saver was on board. Champagne was poured and fellow travelers applauded.

Then the toast was given to the nurse who had offered some minor assistance.

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Roy Tousley collapsed at Galleria Dallas on Oct. 27. In a matter of minutes, his friend had started CPR.

A doctor walking by intervened next and began compressions.

Mall security then arrived and gave him two shocks with an AED, but Tousley was still in danger.

Dallas Fire-Rescue Engine 20 was first on the scene and took over, continuing CPR and using the defibrillator. By the time firefighters got Tousley to Medical City Dallas he was breathing on his own and stable.

“This is an awesome outcome, we’re very happy to see it. We don’t get to see it enough,” said Jay Prigmore the driver, engineer and paramedic for Engine 20.

Tousley and his wife stopped by the fire house on Wednesday to say thank you to rescuers.

“I came to the fire station to give my very best to these gentlemen that saved my life,” said Tousley.

“We need to get defibrillators in every public place that we can,” said Myrna Tousley. “We need everybody to take a CPR course, that’s crucial.”

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Grecoe, an Andover resident who lives with his wife Lisa and three daughters, went into sudden cardiac arrest on the morning of Sept. 19 while exercising at the Andover/North Andover YMCA.

Dan Grecoe the Survivor

For about 10 minutes, retired Andover firefighter Richard Hartman and school nurse Rita Casper worked together to perform CPR on Grecoe while YMCA employee Maura Eisenhood used an automatic external defibrillator to help him survive while the paramedics were en route.

“Without Maura and Rita and Richard and this device, I wouldn’t be here with my daughters to celebrate,” Grecoe said, referring to the automatic external defibrillator.

Grecoe was working out at the gym with his friend Paul Davies early on the morning of Sept. 19. He had recently recovered from knee surgery — having his anterior cruciate ligament replaced following a skiing injury — and was given the OK to start running.

He started with the treadmill, running for about six or seven minutes, and said he felt totally winded.

“I chalked that up for not being able to run because of the knee,” Grecoe said.

Grecoe and Davies then switched to the elliptical machines. After about five minutes on the machine, Grecoe started to feel faint.

“I said to (Davies), ‘I’m feeling a little dizzy,’ and that was it,” Grecoe said. “The lights went out.”

Eisenhood, assistant to the sports director at the YMCA and a North Andover resident, said she noticed Grecoe at the gym that morning because he had been using a machine normally taken by another gym regular.

Eisenhood had been wiping down machines when she noticed commotion in his direction. She said when she walked over that she noticed Grecoe was clenching his hands.

“We realized that he was kind of struggling to breathe,” Eisenhood said. “As he was on his side, Rita had come over and said, ‘I’m a registered nurse, I can help.’”

The two sent some other people in the gym to call 911. Hartman, the former deputy chief for the Andover Fire Department, stepped forward to help as well.

Casper, the director of nurses for Andover Public Schools, gave chest compressions while Hartman applied rescue breaths. Eisenhood opened up the defibrillator.

“It tells you what to do,” Eisenhood said. “We followed the directions.”

Eisenhood, 43, has worked at the YMCA branch for six years and has been certified in first aid since high school. She had CPR re-certification at the start of the summer.

“I think I was at ease because I had been trained,” Eisenhood said. “I literally had my hands on the same device months before.”

She applied electric shocks to Grecoe three times while the group worked to keep him alive. Rescue crews arrived and took Grecoe to Lawrence General Hospital, where he has his first memories waking up.

“There’s really no words that can express the gratitude that I have to everyone who came to my aid, from the people at my gym to everybody in Ambulance 1 who responded,” Grecoe said.

Now recovering, Grecoe, a software engineer, has been cleared by his doctors to start walking. He said he hopes to run a 5K race in the future.

Eisenhood said she felt like circumstances aligned for the three to come to Grecoe’s rescue — saving him from a life-threatening situation.

“It just seemed like everything was lined up,” Eisenhood said. “You were at the gym at the right time, Rita was right there, Richard was right there.”

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The woman said that she had no prior signs of a heart condition. Reportedly, the woman looked good, but called for help about 5:30 p.m. when she started having chest pains. Crews convinced her to go to the hospital and she went into cardiac arrest as they were preparing to go.

In the ambulance, crews began compressions and defibrillation with the mobile equipment and stabilized her heart rhythms. She was talking to crew members again by the time they reached the hospital.

Operational Chief Jerry Doerksen says the school has an automatic external defibrillator (AED) in the gym, and that it is always important to see that the brain is saved 100 percent, making sure that the patient receives oxygen before emergency crews arrive.

Fire Marshal Mike Flummer says the combination of early recognition of signs of a heart attack, the new continuous compression CPR and early defibrillation were key factors in the patient surviving this cardiac incident.

“I sat down in class and stood up and fell over. It was really scary, and I just remember waking up in the hospital” said Brooks.

Thirteen-year old Brook went into a sudden cardiac arrest in the middle of class. He suffers from cardiomyopathy, a condition that affects the heart muscles and that day his heart to stop beating.

Teachers at his school in Montana quickly began performing CPR and ran immediately to get the defibrillator.

“They were on their way to get the defibrillator when the Fire Department came and used their defibrillator. They shocked him twice, and he came back after two shocks” said Brooks’ mother, Maggie Beler.

Brooks lives in Montana but is visiting family who lives in McFarland and now he wants the McFarland School District and every school, to make the life saving machines available.

Brooks says he is alive today thanks to a defibrillator, and now he is making it his mission to raise awareness about this machine that could help save lives.

“You should really consider getting these because it’s very useful and it saves lives. I’m a prime example of one” said Beler.

McFarland school district officials say defibrillators are expensive and putting one in every school is something the district can’t afford.

“We have looked into them, but with the current budget situation, we don’t have the resources to a acquire them at this time,” said David Lopez with the McFarland School District.

But Beler says you can never put a price on a life, especially when it comes to kids.

“People say its too costly, but coming from my heart, your child is more important than the price of a defibrillator. So get one because its priceless,” said Beler.

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Quickly determining that the woman was in cardiac arrest, John Gammon alerted Jordan, an aspiring firefighter who finished an emergency medical technician course only days earlier.

John & Jordan Gammon the Saviours

“I was impressed watching him, because he engaged and just went right to it,” John Gammon said. “Sometimes, we even get guys who are trained firemen who hesitate for a second, but he jumped right in.”

As John raced through the airport searching for an automatic external defibrillator, Jordan put his newly learned lifesaving techniques to work, taking over CPR compressions on the woman.

“Three days before that, I had been tested on it,” Jordan Gammon said. “It was a little stressful, but my training took over.”

“He took the real test,” added Jim Larson, a Santa Ana firefighter and paramedic who had given Jordan advice during his EMT course.

A doctor also awaiting a flight arrived to help, with an airport employee locating a defibrillator. The device analyzed the woman’s heart rhythm and delivered a single shock, at which point the rescuers found a pulse.

Clark County firefighters arrived soon after, taking the woman to a hospital.

She had to undergo open-heart surgery but appears to be doing well, John Gammon said. Authorities believe the 33-year-old woman had a pre-existing condition that was exacerbated when she exerted herself while running to catch a flight.

Fire officials say the key to saving the woman’s life was the speed of the emergency response, with CPR started within 30 seconds, the first shock within five minutes, and paramedics arriving within 10 minutes.

“For every minute that someone is in cardiac arrest, they lose approximately seven to 10 percent chance of surviving, depending on their age and pre-existing conditions,” Larson said.

For Jordan, the rescue was a reminder of why he wanted to become a firefighter, following in the footsteps of his father and both of his grandfathers. While studying at Northwestern, Jordan also worked for a volunteer fire department, responding on a variety of medical aids and fire calls.

“I enjoy helping people, and it’s always interested me,” Jordan Gammon said. “Being able to help this lady was a blessing.”