MESA, Ariz. — A Valley man and his family met with the Mesa Fire and Medical team that helped save his life after he went into cardiac arrest.
Albert Meade ran the Mesa Marathon back in February and made it all the way to the finish line and accepted his medal.
“I remember kind of going down to my knees because I was trying to catch my breath and then I remember standing up and basically blacking out, like I don't remember anything up to that point,” Meade recalled.
Scott Higgins, the captain paramedic with Mesa Fire and Medical, said they noticed Albert falling backward after he received his medal.
“Looked like he was having a seizure,” Higgins said. “I checked for a pulse as we were wheeling him toward the ambulance, and I didn't feel a pulse.”
Higgins said after eight compressions and other life-saving treatments, they noticed Meade was breathing.
“I patted him on the side of the head. I said, ‘Hey, are you there? Can you hear me?’ He opened his eyes up, and the rest is history,” Higgins said.
Higgins described reuniting with Meade and his family as "truly amazing" because he has children of his own.
“We have a motto, it's service before self, and it's these events that make all that worth it, to be able to go home and tell that story to my kids to help them understand that we were able to take somebody who might not have ever gone back home to their family, and we ensured that it happened,” Higgins said.
Higgins noted that 50% of people who go into cardiac arrest will arrest again, so Meade had a defibrillator implanted into his body.
“If it ever happens to him again, that's basically an AED inside of his own body,” Higgins explained.
Meade and his wife said they could not be more grateful to the first responders who helped save his life.
“I'm so happy to be here and be able to see my kids and that's all that matters to me,” Meade said.
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