More than 300,000 Americans go into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital every year. Only 10.6 percent  survive. A local man is alive and doing well today, thanks to coincidence and some folks he calls angels.

 

At Sam’s Club in Altoona,  a couple of days before Christmas, Norm Tucker hit the floor. “I don’t remember anything when it happened or anything,” Norm says. “What I’ve been told there were 4 people that were involved that really I owe my life to.”

 

A code white alert went out in and all around the store, 911 was called,  and someone who knew CPR was right on the scene.

 

Norm says, “the nurse who used to work at the Altoona Hospital, who now teaches, was just coming in to get a bag of lettuce, there was no other reason for her to come in,” Norm says.

 

Meantime, at  the Sam’s Club gas pumps, an employee who’ d heard the alert was ready to act. As a volunteer with the Irvona Fire Company, Lee Queen had been trained in CPR. “So, I went and did what I had to do,” Lee says.

 

And he showed up just in time. “CPR  is a long, you do it for long periods of time and it tires you out,  So I asked the lady that was doing chest compressions if she wanted to switch,  and she said go ahead, I’m tired,” Lee remembers.

 

Norm thinks Lee’s timing was critical.  “He says, oh, I didn’t do anything, No, he did a lot. He’s the one who kept me going until the gentleman that had the defibrillator came in.” 

 

Coincidentally, a shopper in Sam’s Club just happened to have a defibrillator in his car. He’d been trained on the device a day before, as required by his job.

 

At UPMC Altoona Cardiologist  Dr. George Jabbour says, of Norm’s experience, “it’s a miracle, people around him did exactly what needed to be done. He was extremely lucky to have people who knew how to do CPR. He was extremely lucky to have a defibrillator close by.”

 

It took more than a couple of shocks to bring Norm around but,  he was alert  when the ambulance showed up to rush him to UPMC Altoona for a triple bypass.  

 

In yet one more unusual coincidence, a member of  UPMC Altoona’s heart surgery team , on call at the time, was also at Sam’s Club, heard what happened, and called ahead to the hospital, to say, get ready, we have a patient coming in.”

 

After surgery and cardiac rehab there,  he’s ready to go. “I’m just very happy to be here and I appreciate and thank everybody that was involved,” Norm says.

 

Norm, Dr. Jabbour, and Lee all think it would be a great idea if this story prompted more people to learn CPR.