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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Keegan Shepherd and Sheldon Liikala, two juniors who saw the teen sink to the ground, immediately ran to a nearby school building, said Principal Tim Praino. They knew they would find a breakroom full of teachers.

Mike Edwards the Saviour

Two of the teachers, John Bittinger and Paul Staley, who recently trained to provide first aid and CPR, rushed outside while others called 911 and radioed for one of the new defibrillators.

Praino was sprinting to the gym to get a
defibrillator, until he heard that Edwards already was en route with the machine from his office.

Edwards recently had gone through training on the defibrillator, but didn’t feel too sure of himself when he got the radio call.

Jeremy Brewer the Survivor

“My first thought was, ‘I don’t remember what they told me in the training,’ ” Edwards told the Herald Monday.But when he got to where Bittinger and Staley were performing CPR on Jeremy, he went on auto-pilot — quite literally.

The machine told Edwards it was getting ready to shock Jeremy and to not touch the teen.” The defibrillator checked if Jeremy needed a second jolt and when it decided he didn’t, told the humans to resume CPR, even letting out beeps to show them exactly at what pace to apply pressure to the chest.

Less than two minutes had passed since Jeremy collapsed — and that’s essential to avoid lasting damage.”

In the next couple of minutes, an ambulance showed up.The medics asked if the defibrillator shocked the teen and took over. They took Jeremy to Kadlec Regional Medical Center, where doctors found his heart was beating fine, but that he was not yet breathing on his own. He was flown to Seattle Children’s Hospital and was breathing on his own by Saturday.

On Monday, Jeremy was talking but appeared confused, Praino said. Doctors have said it will take the teen a few days to form clear thoughts, but that he is expected to fully recover.They also said Jeremy was “lucky to have trained individuals working on him within minutes,” Praino said.

Bittinger and Staley forced air into his lungs. Edwards had the machine to jump start Jeremy’s heart. And two students didn’t hesitate a moment to get help.”It was a great example of teamwork,” Praino said.

Just how great became apparent to Edwards only Monday — when he saw the report doctors downloaded from the defibrillator.The graph showing Jeremy’s heart activity was an almost flat, squiggly line when Edwards first attached the pads to the teen’s chest. Ten seconds after the shock was delivered, the usual sharp spikes seen on the heart rate diagram indicated his heart had started beating again.

“I got goosebumps seeing that,” Edwards said. “I thought, ‘Man — this works.’

“When the district’s safety committee discussed buying defibrillators over the summer, nobody objected, but the general consensus was that they likely would never be needed, Gribskov said.

But before the year was out, one of the relatively inexpensive machines has saved a young man from permanent damage or even death.

“We’re certainly thankful we decided to purchase them,” Gribskov said.

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Suddenly, while his Grade 9 students practiced CPR on “dummies” in the gym next door, King joined McConnell in a life-or-death first-aid drill. In the precious minutes that followed, they used a real defibrillator and CPR to restore the teen’s pulse before emergency crews arrived.

Today the 17-year-old is recovering, although he does not want his name made public.

“The timing was ironic, because I had just been telling my students how important it is to know CPR, especially with the holidays coming up when they visit with elderly relatives,” King said.

McConnell knows first aid from her days as a lifeguard, and began delivering CPR and mouth-to-mouth as shocked students watched. She had been teaching at the Etobicoke school less than two weeks, yet ironically, one of the first classes she had taught was in CPR.

“It’s amazing because the defibrillator tells you exactly what to do, including what rhythm to use when you compress the chest and when to give air,” McConnell said.

Toronto’s Emergency Medical Services has nominated both teachers as well as hall monitor Linda Armstrong and vice-principal Tim Brethour for EMS Citizens’ awards for quick thinking in fetching the defibrillator, calling 911 and delaying the bell between classes so emergency crews could wheel out the stretcher without having to battle crowds.

“In cardiac arrest, seconds count,” noted EMS acting superintendent Shawn Murphy in a letter of praise to school officials. “Had it not been for the rapid and skilled actions of the staff, the outcome would not have been as positive.”

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The student was taking part of a P.E. class outside at East Meadows Elementary School when he suddenly collapsed. But a two-minute response and life-saving training got his heart back in rhythm.

Logan Powell the Survivor

The boy is recovering at Primary Children’s Medical Center following the heroic efforts of those who first noticed him. His doctors say he’s still in critical condition, but his heart is beating on its own and he’s breathing on his own. He remains on oxygen as a precaution.

“Our main concern is for the student and their family,” said Nebo School District spokeswoman Lana Hiskey.

Friends were playing together when the young boy collapsed. One of the boy’s friends told the playground supervisor, who discovered the boy was not breathing and had no pulse.

“Our adult personnel moved quickly, called 911, and the emergency response vehicle got here very quickly,” Hiskey described. “(They) promptly took the student to a medical facility.”

The police got there in two minutes and tried to revive the boy with CPR, but only got a couple of breaths out of the boy. That’s when they used an Automated External Defibrillator to shock his heart back into action.

The boy was taken to the Payson Hospital before being airlifted to Primary Children’s Medical Center. Doctors still don’t know what made the boy go into cardiac arrest.

“Luckily, a lot of the students were in class,” Hiskey said.

The school sent a note home with all of the students to let parents know about the incident. It concludes by saying, “We are proud of the trained school staff that responded so well to the emergency.”

The boy’s aunt said the family is grateful to the P.E. teacher, the secretary and the Spanish Fork Polic Officer that saved the boy’s life.

The Nebo School District was already in the process of putting defibrillators in its schools before the Thursday’s event.

“We think it’s important to get those in every one of our schools,” Hiskey said.

Cody Ching the Survivor

Teammates rushed to Ching’s aid, including Zach Miller, who says he knew Ching was in bad shape right away.

“To look down on him and see his purple face, no pulse, our coach doing CPR — it’s kind of like one of those things,” Miller says. “I wasn’t sure if he was going to come back.”

That coach, Robin Robinson, has coached the Cougar baseball team for nearly 21 years. He says within a few seconds of being notified of Ching’s heart attack, he had started CPR.

“There’s no question in my mind that I was going to continue to pump on that heart until somebody killed me or he died or somebody took us apart,” Robinson says.

Ching says he doesn’t remember any of the events leading up to his heart attack.

When paramedics rushed him into the emergency room, he was unconscious and there been no blood flow to his brain for nearly 8 minutes.

Ching’s father, Davin Ching, says the family was shocked at what happened. He says his son has always been athletic and healthy; there have never been any warning signs that something was wrong with his son’s heart.

Davin Ching says his son was never specially tested for any heart condition before going into cardiac arrest, but says after January’s incident, he wants all parents to have their student-athletes tested.

Doctors put Cody Ching in a medically induced coma to help stabilize his brain. As family and friends gathered by Cody Ching’s bedside, doctors warned the family he was likely going to suffer from brain damage.

“He’s 6 foot 3, 200 pounds, to see him laying here on the hospital bed, it’s just a parent’s worst nightmare,” Davin Ching says.

Remarkably, Cody Ching didn’t suffer any brain damage. Aside from some short-term memory loss from the day of the heart attack, he is doing well.

Doctors implanted a defibrillator in his chest and the family says surgeons placed the device on the right side so he could one day pitch left handed.

“I’m just trying to focus on getting back into shape and getting caught back up on my school work that I missed,” Cody Ching says.

Pedro Medina the Survivor

Pedro says he doesn’t remember much besides waking up in a hospital bed at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, but said he was shocked to hear what had happened.

“It’s crazy. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like I skipped a couple of days in my life,” Pedro said.

“I thought I was healthy. I didn’t think this could happen,” he added.

Staff and students on the other hand recall the situation quite well.

“The chaos was spontaneous, but so was the student response to the situation,” Lopez said.

While Lopez said it is against the rules to have a cell phone in his classroom, he praised senior Elizabeth Nefzger for getting hers out and calling 911 right away. Sitting next to one of the two classroom exits, sophomore Bryce Campbell took charge of getting everyone out of the classroom in an orderly fashion while paramedics were en route.

“It could have come out differently. Everybody acted like adults, like a community that cared about (Pedro’s) health,” Lopez said.

Vice Principal Rayito Farris said that it took everyone from the students to the paramedics to doctors working together to help Pedro.

The school resource officer performed CPR until paramedics arrived. Within minutes, members of the Vacaville Fire Department were on scene.

Staff applaud the students for the way they conducted themselves and paramedics for their fast response.

Farris said that had Pedro been on his own when his heart stopped, there could have been a very different outcome. In cases like this, there is a 20 percent chance of survival, she said, and that usually hinges upon how fast the patient can get medical attention.

Pedro, who was taken by paramedics to VacaValley Hospital and subsequently airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Oakland, suffered from what is called the long QT syndrome – a rare heart condition that didn’t present itself until that day.

“The timing was impeccable. The paramedics were here within minutes and that contributed to his survival,” Farris said.

On Tuesday, Farris and Pedro stopped by Vacaville Fire Department Station 71 to say thank you to the firefighter/paramedics who helped save his life.

“It’s good to see a positive outcome,” said Battalion Chief Brian Moore. Along with Moore, Capt. Eric Ceremony and a handful of other firefighter/paramedics who responded to Pedro’s condition stood around the station with Pedro retelling the story.

Sprinkled amongst jokes about not having to bring a doctor’s note to prove his illness, the fire crew also told Pedro how lucky he was to be alive.

Moore said that when they respond to calls like Pedro’s, the outcome is not so good. Luckily for Pedro, the fire department was on scene within minutes. Being an otherwise healthy teenager, his recovery was quick, according to Moore.

Matt Moreno, a firefighter/paramedic, was the first medic on scene. A Vacaville High School graduate himself, Moreno talked to Pedro about taking advantage of his second chance at life. Before Pedro left, Moreno had talked him into doing a ride-along with Battalion 71 and encouraged him to think about firefighting as a career.

“Not too many people who have walked in your shoes get a second chance. Make sure you take advantage of it,” Moreno said.

“Your heart just sinks when you look back and see one of your students lying on the floor, but the paramedics did an awesome job,” Farris said.

While Pedro said he’s a little bummed that he wasn’t conscious to enjoy his first helicopter ride, he’s thankful to be back at school.

“It feels good to be back. It’s better than being in the hospital,” Pedro said.

Principal Michael Zapicchi, Chief Richard Furda, EMT Brian Barbarise, school nurse Patricia Walsh, Patrolman Martin McElwrath, EMT Austin Fountain & teacher Trevor Warner the Saviours

Mr. Warner immediately began CPR while Ms. Petrocelli radioed for help.

School nurse Patricia Walsh called emergency services.

First responder Patrolman Martin McElrath arrived within minutes, quickly followed by local emergency technicians Mr. Fountain and Mr. Barbarise who used an AED (automatic external defibrillator) to help save the student’s life.

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Colleen Shotwell & Wendy Dietrich the Saviours

A 22-year-old student playing basketball at a campus sports facility suddenly collapsed. That’s when a teacher and several athletic trainers sprung into action and used the facility’s automated external defibrillator, or AED, to jumpstart the man’s heart, which had temporarily stopped.

The trainers then administered CPR until medics arrived and took the man to the hospital, where, university officials say, he remains in stable condition. Officials declined to release his name.

According to Wendy Dietrich, the athletic trainer who administered the lifesaving electric shock, at around 2 p.m. Tuesday a teacher ran into her office at the field house, alerting her that a man who was playing basketball had just collapsed. Dietrich ran onto the basketball court and told a student to bring her the AED, which was down the hall.

Dietrich, who has worked at the school for six years, knew how to use the AED.

“I knew exactly what was happening,” said Dietrich, who once had to administer CPR to a man who had been struck by lightning.

As the AED was making calculations based on the man’s condition — the machine takes a few minutes to decide whether it needs to shock a person — the man stopped breathing. That’s when the machine shocked his chest. On a digital window, the AED then told Dietrich — who was aided by Colleen Shotwell, the head of ESU’s athletic training department — to administer CPR.

The two administered CPR — with Shotwell blowing air into the man’s mouth and Dietrich pumping his chest — until the ambulance arrived. The CPR helped keep him alive, but Dietrich credits the machine with having done the most important work.

“The AED is what saved his life,” Dietrich said.

“I’m just overcome with joy that I was able to help this young man,” said Dietrich. She was feeling good, “almost like a proud coach after a win.”

The fire department and Bell’s Ambulance arrived at the school three minutes after receiving a 911 call at 10:22 a.m., Adams said.

A high school coach was performing CPR on the boy, who was not breathing and had no pulse, Adams said.

Firefighters continued CPR and applied a defibrillator once to the boy’s chest. The teen gasped and his breathing and pulse resumed a short time later, Adams said.

The boy was stabilized before he was taken to Healdsburg District Hospital. He was then transferred to Oakland’s Children’s Hospital by REACH helicopter, Adams said.

Adams attributed the successful life-saving effort to the coach, who he said recognized the medical emergency and immediately starting CPR, and the quick response by firefighters and emergency medical responders.

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Faculty and classmates who witnessed her collapse called 9-1-1.

Nearby faculty administered CPR while a staff member, trained in its use, retrieved the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) that is kept on the campus.

The AED delivered one shock, which stabilized the patient’s heart rhythm.

Grey County EMS arrived on the scene, took over patient care and transported the woman to the hospital. The patient is now stable and recovering in hospital.