But cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Tankersley, who survived a heart attack, said there are no words to describe it, and it happened thanks to his wife’s quick actions.
“This shows the amount of love she has for me,” he said.
On the night of Nov. 6, with his wife sleeping upstairs, Tankersley, 37, said he felt some chest pains. He stumbled upstairs and told his wife: “Baby, I’m not feeling well.”
Those could have been their last words together.
They called DoorDash and ordered some aspirin in hopes of subsiding the chest pains. He took the pills, then collapsed on the couch.
He stopped talking and wasn’t moving.
“I knew right then and there,” his wife said.
She called 911, then pulled her husband to the floor. The 911 dispatcher, Amy Scott, instructed Tankersley, who once was CPR certified, how to perform the life-saving procedure.
“She made sure I was doing it the right way,” she said of the operator’s instructions. “Kept me calm, too.”
Middletown Fire Chief Brian Wright credited Tankersley’s wife for performing CPR before paramedics arrived. He said her “swift actions and composure in this critical moment were instrumental in saving her husband’s life.”
Four minutes after the 911 call, five Middletown firefighters arrived and took over. He was unconscious with no pulse. Eventually, the paramedics used a defibrillator to shock Tankersley’s heart four times until it was back into rhythm.
During the chaos, the Tankersley’s three children, ages 15, 13 and 10, were awake and downstairs watching as their father’s life hung in the balance.
“The world’s most horrible feeling,” said his wife of 14 years. “You’re thinking, ‘Is my spouse going to be alive or not?’”
Tankersley was transported to Atrium Medical Center where the cardiac catheterization lab staff was awaiting his arrival.
His family gathered in a waiting area.
Their prayer was simple: “Please don’t let him be gone.”
A stent was placed in a blocked artery and Tankersley, whose father has heart disease, was released from the hospital the following day. He was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia and wore a monitor for weeks.
It was a mental battle that left him suffering with PTSD.
“What if I drop tomorrow?” he asked.
He has returned to his job as a retread technician at Ziegler Tire in Monroe.
His life, like those tires, has been given a second chance thanks to five firefighters, a 911 dispatcher, his wife and an Atrium medical team.
Many of those heroes were recently honored during a Middletown City Council meeting with Premier Health Cardiac Save Awards. Karen Ward, EMS coordinator at Atrium, and Tankersley presented the firefighters and dispatcher with challenge coins.
Brittany Tankersley, 36, received a Hero Award.
Ward delivered some sobering statistics. She said 356,000 people annually suffer cardiac arrests, mostly at home or the workplace. Of those, 50% are witnessed and only 10% of the patients leave the hospital.
“Amazing teamwork by all,” is how Ward described Tankersley beating the odds.
Patrick Tankersley is thankful for a second chance.
“I’m very blessed for all of that,” he said. “It’s nice to have my life back.”
Columnist Rick McCrabb writes about local people and events every Sunday. If you have an idea for a story, contact him at rmccrabb1@gmail.com.
PREMIER HEALTH CARDIAC SAVE AWARD RECIPIENTS
Middletown firefighters/paramedics: Bryce Nartker, Jacob Smith and Quinlan Smith
Firefighters/EMTs: Zach Fisher and Evin Smith
Dispatcher: Amy Scott
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