THUNDER BAY – A year ago, Nathan Forte had a heart attack and nearly died.
He was 30 years old.
If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of his wife Alex Larson, realizing her husband wasn’t suffering a seizure and performing basic cardio pulmonary resuscitation, he’d be dead.
Her actions bought time for Superior North EMS paramedics to arrive on scene and take over, ultimately shocking his heart back to life.
Earlier this week the thankful couple brought a basket of appreciation to the two paramedics, Rob Moquin and Rob Plummer, who ensured that Nathan and Alex should be able to enjoy a long married life together.
“I actually don’t remember much of it. I was just feeling tired from being at work one day. I remember getting up, getting a glass of water, hitting the couch and that was it. I woke up in the hospital,” Nathan said.
For Alex, it was a little more terrifying.
Initially suspecting a seizure, when she noticed his ear tips starting to turn blue, she immediately put her ear to her husband’s chest and hearing no heartbeat, tried to recall whatever she’d seen and heard about CPR.
“I did that until paramedics got there,” she said.
“They came in the door and at the point a police officer took me into the kitchen. They didn’t want me seeing what was happening. But to my knowledge, he was gone. And the next thing I remember hearing was somebody saying, ‘He’s fighting us,’ Alex said.
“I pushed the officer out of the way, ran back into the living room and I knew it was a good sign. But they had to shock him. They had to do CPR themselves and he just kept crashing. He wasn’t taking it.”
Paramedics are used to responding to cardiac arrest situations, but it’s not often the patient has just turned 30.
Moquin said it’s rare that a year later they get thanked for their efforts.
It’s a good feeling, he said.
“It happens that people thank us for the services we’ve given, but this is certainly a feel-good story for a young fellow like that to have such a catastrophic event with such an amazing outcome,” Moquin said.
“Going home tonight it’s certainly going to be a topic of conversation with my kids that someone came in to thank Dad for doing a good job.
“I think too often our families hear the underbelly of EMS and a lot of the issues we deal with. And to go home with a story like this, it’s a feel-good story and it’s nice to have this outcome.”
Nathan said despite not knowing what led to his heart attack, he’s revamped his diet over the past 12 months and is slowly, but surely working his way back into his former active lifestyle.
