Eddy Montero was visiting his family in the Lake Nona area of Orlando, Florida, when he said his life flashed before his eyes. The trip he had undertaken to see his daughters, and meet one of his grandchildren, quickly turned into a medical emergency.
Montero says they were out to dinner at an area restaurant when he felt dizzy and collapsed: he had no idea he was having a heart attack. “I don’t know what happened,” he said in an interview with NBC News Now.
By chance, some doctors were finishing dinner at a nearby table and rushed to help him.
Nicole Brenner, a doctor who was 35 weeks pregnant, and three resident doctors Sonia Alicea, Amanda Rivera and Suhail Saad-Omer, helped Montero until paramedics arrived.
“We quickly checked for a pulse, and as soon as it was identified that there was no pulse and that she was in cardiac arrest, we immediately began CPR,” Brenner said.
“Dr Saad-Omer called for emergency assistance, and helped identify if there was any additional support in the area. And doctors Alicea and Rivera were able to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation and replace me, because it is a little complicated for me,” he explained.
According to the National Institutes of Health, when cardiac arrest occurs outside of a hospital, in nine out of ten cases the person dies.
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“We thank God very much because they saved my father’s life,” said Fabiana Montero, the daughter of the man who was helped by the doctors.
“They were angels that appeared to me. “I lived again, do you understand me?” Montero told NBC News Now.
And Dr. Brenner agreed: “It’s like we were meant to be there.”
When Montero was taken to Florida Osceola Hospital, he was assigned to Dr. Suhail Saad-Omer, one of the doctors who helped him at the restaurant.
Doctors have not clarified what could have caused the attack that Montero suffered, but medical emergencies like the one he suffered usually occur suddenly, especially in older people.
Cardiac arrest occurs when an artery that sends blood and oxygen to the heart becomes blocked. Fat deposits build up over time, forming plaques in the arteries of the heart. If a plaque ruptures, a blood clot forms.
That clot blocks the arteries, limiting blood flow to the heart muscle and causing tissue death. Myocardial infarctions can be fatal if not treated immediately.
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According to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, these are some of the symptoms that may be experienced before cardiac arrest: fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, chest pain, palpitations and loss of consciousness.
Experts recommend that if you, or someone you know, has any of these symptoms, you should call 911 or go to the emergency room.
With information from Wesh.com and NBC News Now
