TYLER, Texas — An East Texas man is counting his blessings after EMS and his wife helped save his life.
Cardiac arrests can happen with little to no warning, and when they do, every second counts. Dec. 6 was routine for Curtis Cason and his wife Brynn.
"...Like we always do, we sit down and discuss the Bible," Curtis said. "After we had a moment of doing that, I was getting ready for bed and my wife said I just started gasping for air."
"I just immediately called 911," Brynn said. "They talked me into getting him down on the ground and doing chest compressions on him. I did those for over 10 minutes"
When Curtis’ heart stopped beating unexpectedly, it was race against time. Tyler Fire Department and UT Health East Texas crews arrived within minutes. Curtis' heart was shocked for a total of six times.
"(We) did another round of compressions and then he got a pulse back and maintained it the whole time," said UT Health East Texas paramedic Charles Bishop.
Bishop and Bobby Roberts were the EMS crew who helped save Curtis’ life. They both got a chance to meet Curtis at the hospital.
"(It was a) very emotional day just meeting those guys," Curtis said.
Bishop added that meeting Curtis shook his whole world.
"That was very humbling because I saw him on his worst day and I saw his wife on her worst day," Bishop said.
Roberts noted the Casons' whole family could have been affected as a bad outcome would’ve ruined the holidays.
"It was very nice, the fact that they thought of us and were willing to allow us to come and see him and speak to him and all that, signed his pillow that he got. It was very heart warming," Roberts said.
It was a heart-warming moment that started from a heart-stopping instant.
"It’s because of everyone working together as a unified team that he’s alive today," Bishop said.
Everyone from EMS, to dispatch, to his own wife of three years..."Had she not been there, I probably wouldn’t be here right now," Curtis said.
And it’s because of his wife and the EMS crew, that Curtis is a walking miracle.
"God can work miracles…if He did it for me, He can do it for everyone else," Curtis said.
Holding hope and faith one day at a time and now, the Casons are counting their blessings.