'This is a day I should've never had': Milton man thanks paramedics who saved his life

For many people, heading to the gym to get their workout in before the day begins is as much part of life as drinking water, but few leave the gym the way Milton resident Richard McCool left on Dec. 14, 2022.

After getting to Anytime Fitness in Milton at 5 a.m. for his daily workout, the 67-year-old McCool began his aerobic cycle on the rowing machine. He was roughly 300 meters into his 750-meter workout when his heart stopped.

"Suddenly, I just couldn't catch my breath. I was just struggling for air," McCool told the News Journal. "So I got off the rowing machine, got down on my hands and knees and I said, 'Zach, I just can't catch my breath.'

"The next thing you know, I just went down," he added. "I woke up three hours later in the hospital talking to the surgeon just before I went into surgery."

Without the help of McCool's personal trainer Zach Beagle and two of his workout friends, Susan Draiss and Heather Jones, he likely wouldn't be alive today to see his children and grandkids.

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Knowing the dire situation and the "miraculous" help of Anytime Fitness staff, friends and first responders who came to McCool's aid, he went to the Santa Rosa's Lifeguard Ambulance Station in Milton Friday afternoon to meet and thank the first responders who saved his life.

"The first responders were there in three minutes," McCool said, referencing the security footage of that day. "They were amazing. It was like a training video."

Before paramedics arrived, McCool's two close friends and gym instructor kept his heart pumping for the roughly three minutes it took for emergency services to arrive.

Beagle and Jones both performed CPR and had to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) while Draiss called 911, and all three said they were on autopilot that day.

"I can't tell you how many CPR courses I've taken," Beagle said. "That was the first time I've done (CPR) on a real person past a training dummy or something."

Jones expressed her thankfulness that McCool is still alive today and advocates for everyone to learn CPR.

"It's still very surreal when you think about it, but get certified in CPR," she said. "Take the class. You never know when you're going to need it and don't be afraid to step in."

All three people who helped McCool received a 911 Hero Award from the Santa Rosa Lifeguard Ambulance Station.

During the meet-and-greet between the first responders and McCool, Santa Rosa County' Lifeguard Ambulance EMS Chief Jason Rogers gave a quick word about the "momentous" occasion they had to be in McCool's presence, citing the fact that McCool statistically had little chance of survival.

"Without treatment, sudden cardiac arrest from ventricular fibrillation is almost always fatal," he told everyone in attendance.

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After a quick CPR demonstration, the Interim Strategic Operations Manager of Global Medical Response, Sharon Schwarz, provided statistics to highlight the rarity of surviving cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting and the ever-growing number of bystanders saving people's lives.

"In the U.S., there's more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests per year, and usually 90% of those are fatal," she said. "Last year, (Santa Rosa County) had 126 patients that we code up that were in cardiac arrest that were already receiving CPR from a bystander."

Schwarz also said operators will walk bystanders through chest compressions and CPR until paramedics arrive. Santa Rosa County has double the Florida average of cardiac arrest saves, according to Schwarz.

McCool said he couldn't have been happier than to see the people who helped save his life, and says now he wakes up every morning savoring the new day.

"Every single morning thinking, 'This is a day I should've never had,' and it gives you a different level of appreciation," he said. "Sometimes you wonder why your life was spared, but you're grateful it was.

"I was told by the hospital staff ... that I was a miracle, I shouldn't have been here and everything had to have been perfect," he added. "And it really was. Everybody responded perfectly."

Part of enjoying life is getting back to what McCool loved doing every morning — working out at Anytime Fitness.

He said he's been cleared to do some light work, so if you pop in at 5 a.m., you'll see him slowly walking on the treadmill and facing his workout group. Once he's medically cleared to complete full workouts, McCool says he'll hit the ground running with his new lease on life.

"As soon as my cardiologist clears me, I'm going to go back just like I was," McCool said with a smile on his face.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Milton man meets medics who responded Anytime Fitness heart attack