Duxbury man suffering from heart attack gets chance to thank rescuers

DUXBURY, Mass. — To say the least, Paul McDermott is one lucky dude. And he knows it.

Last month McDermott experienced a type of heart attack so deadly that it kills nearly 90 percent of victims who don’t get immediate medical care — and it happened in a Duxbury conservation area, while he was out exercising.

“I recall next to nothing to be honest with you,” McDermott said. “I took a slow, short run, grabbed my dog and my bike to do a cool down ride.”

He didn’t get far. Within a few minutes McDermott went down.

“I had noticed some chest pain going back to 2015,” McDermott said. “I was under the care of a cardiologist.”

While there was a family history of heart disease, McDermott had no idea the time bomb in his chest. The largest artery supplying blood to his heart had become completely blocked. Heart attacks resulting from such a blockage are so uniformly fatal they’re known as “widowmakers.”

The fact that it happened in the woods reduced McDermott’s odds of survival to 1 in 10.

But fate was on his side. Because walking her dog that morning was Kerry Sanson, an Emergency Department nurse at Boston Medical Center.

“I actually skipped two trails I normally go down with my dog,” said Sanson. “And for some reason, I just decided to go down the trail he happened to be on.”

At first, Sanson thought McDermott had just fallen off his bike. Then she noticed his face was blue.

“I checked for a pulse and started CPR,” she said.

She also called 9-1-1 — but until first responders got there, she kept up the CPR for a Herculean eight minutes. During that time, she overworked her own muscles and broke three of McDermott’s ribs.

“I just never expected in the middle of the woods being able to save someone,” said Sanson, who finally got a break when a Duxbury Police officer took over CPR duties. Shortly thereafter Duxbury paramedics arrived.

“If Kerry didn’t find him when she did the chances of survival would have been slim to none, said Duxbury Paramedic Matt Demers. “She was doing CPR for eight minutes, which is just an incredible feat of its own.”

In the ambulance, paramedics attempted cardioversion using a defibrillator. They were amazed that one shock was enough to bring McDermott back.

“He knew that his name was Paul,” Demers said. “But he had no clue of anything else. He didn’t know where he was, what happened, what day it was. He did ask about his dog.”

Once stabilized, McDermott was taken to Mass. General Hospital. He underwent bypass surgery in early September and is doing well. He plans to return to running and biking as soon as his doctors allow it.

Last Sunday, McDermott and Sanson met for the first time, a reunion Sanson called emotional. And Wednesday, McDermott got a chance to thank all those who had a role in saving his life — as Sanson and first responders gathered at the Duxbury Fire Station.

“When somebody goes down in cardiac arrest, if we’re not able to start CPR the chances for survival go down two to three times,” said Chief Rob Reardon — who urged Duxbury residents to take advantage of CPR courses they offer.

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