Louisville rescue: How paramedics, cops & bystanders saved man's life during football game

LOUISVILLE ‒ One moment, Tim Stevanus was watching the action at a high school football playoff game at Louisville Stadium.

The next thing the 77-year-old New Philadelphia man remembers is waking up at Aultman Hospital three days later.

He eventually learned from his son-in-law that he had gone into cardiac arrest during the second quarter of the Division VI high school football state semifinal between Kirtland and Garaway on Nov. 24.

Bystanders in the bleachers who were volunteer firefighters immediately began applying chest compressions and CPR. Louisville paramedics and police officers quickly arrived.

Officer Steve Miller, a former paramedic, drove the ambulance to the stadium entrance closest to Stevanus. The emergency responders transported him on a stretcher to an ambulance, revived him and rushed him to Aultman.

New Philadelphia man thanks Louisville rescuers

Stevanus, now recovered and equipped with a surgically inserted pacemaker and defibrillator, returned to Louisville on Dec. 13 to personally thank those who saved his life. Louisville Fire Chief Rod Bordner organized a reunion of those involved in reviving him.

Mayor Pat Fallot framed letters of recognition to the firefighters, police officers and bystanders who assisted the New Philadelphia man.

Related: Nimishillen woman thanks Louisville paramedics for saving her life

"I just want to share with you that God had all these people in place for me," said Stevanus, a retired hardware store owner said. "By all rights, I should not be here. ... And unfortunately the team I went up to watch didn't win. But I won. Thank you all!"

Stevanus' son-in-law T.J. Rombach, an assistant fire chief for the Erie Valley Fire Department, had accompanied Stevanus to the football game. Both are Garaway fans. Stevanus, an alumnus, said he was a halfback on Garaway's inaugural team in 1963.

It was the second quarter and Kirtland and Garaway were tied at zero. Both Rombach and Garaway were in the bleachers.

Rombach said he saw Stevanus, who has a history of heart issues, leaning forward and struggling to breathe. Then Stevenus stopped breathing.

Rombach immediately began CPR.

Michael Millet, 48, of Aurora, a retired Bedford firefighter/paramedic, was a few rows behind. He was with his brother, who's the Garaway Local Schools superintendent. Millet said he began chest compressions.

"You can only do effective CPR for about two or three minutes," said Rombach. "Everyone gets tired. So everybody rotates in and out."

Reinforcements arrive to save Tim Stevanus

Louisville Fire Capt. Thomas Ruskin Jr. was one of the paramedics providing coverage at the game along with Capt. Mike Henkel. Louisville police officer Brooke Cox, who had heard a report on the radio from another police officer of an ill spectator, told him someone was getting CPR in the stands.

Firefighter/EMT Chris Walters, who was on duty at the stadium, grabbed the LUCAS device, which provides automated chest compressions. The city of Louisville had purchased the equipment with a grant from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Henkel brought a defibrillator and medical monitor. Cox helped carry the cot/stretcher and oxygen tank to the bleachers.

Meanwhile, firefighter/paramedic Nathan Weisel was in the stands off-duty watching the game. He saw Ruskin going to Stevanus to provide assistance so Weisel went over to see if they needed help.

When he got to Stevanus lying on a bleacher, Ruskin took over providing chest compressions from Millet. Walters positioned the LUCAS device and turned it on. Ruskin and Weisel cut through the patient's clothing and applied the defibrillator pads to his chest. Ruskin applied an electric charge to Stevanus' heart.

Chief Bordner heard what had happened on the radio and left home to go to the stadium to oversee the attempts to revive Stevanus.

The paramedics then loaded Stevanus on a stretcher and carried him down 12 rows of bleachers to the ambulance. Ruskin applied another electric shock. Stevanus began breathing again and regained his pulse. Henkel put an IV on him in the ambulance.

Fan goes from Louisville Stadium to Aultman Hospital

Rombach asked if he could ride with his father-in-law to the hospital. That's when Ruskin recognized him from paramedic school about 23 years ago. With Rombach sitting in the passenger seat, Walters, who was driving the ambulance, rushed the patient to Aultman. Ruskin alerted the Aultman emergency room that they were transporting a heart attack patient.

"These guys were amazing," Rombach said about the Louisville firefighters and police officers. "We do this all the time and the outcome is rarely this good."

"To see (Stevanus) just brings joy to my heart. It's awesome" said Millet. "Absolutely everybody should know how to do CPR. Without initial CPR, I'm not sure the outcome would have been the same."

"It's such a good feeling that we made a difference," said Ruskin. "Especially this time of year, he gets to spend the holidays with his family."

Henkel said, "Just to see him walking and talking. That just brings everybody joy. Because you don't always get that outcome and to see that and to have him here was fantastic."

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. On X, formerly Twitter: @rwangREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Paramedics, cops, bystanders save man's life at Louisville Stadium