Firefighters Save One Of Their Own Suffering Spontaneous Cardiac Arrest

DENVER (CBS4) - A group of South Metro firefighters had to save one of their own inside the fire truck they were in while coming back from a medical call.

Todd Hennessy was riding in the truck with fellow firefighters on Dec. 11, 2017 when he says he last remembered seeing American Furniture Warehouse out of the window... and the next thing he remembers was waking up on the side of the road.

"They're calling it spontaneous cardiac arrest. So, not your typical heart attack. There was no blockage. There was no clotting," said Hennessy. "Your heart just stopped," said a coworker. "My heart just stopped," answered Hennessy.

The other men in the truck noticed something wasn't right when Hennessy wasn't acting like himself.

It was a new firefighter on his first day on the job who first noticed there was a problem.

"When he opened his eyes, his pupils were really blown. At that point, I knew something was going on, and I knew he wasn't faking it because you can't fake that," said Bryan Vogt.

The firefighters quickly checked Hennessy's pulse and couldn't find one. That's when they pulled over and started CPR. Then the first responders pulled out an AED and shocked Hennessy.

"I'm lying on the side of the road. I'm looking up. My crew's upside down. Two of them are telling me to stay down," said Hennessy. "I'm remember very clearly Eric telling me they just shocked me."

Hennessy says he thought he actually fell asleep and thought he was going to get in trouble.

The crew then took Hennessy to the hospital where he was treated.

"It was new to me. I had only known him for a week, maybe?" said Vogt. "It's defintely different working on a coworker."

"I view myself extremely lucky for where I was. I wouldn't want to be any other place," said Hennessy.