A man who survived after his heart stopped beating for almost an hour thanked the friend and the firefighters who saved him Friday.
Last winter, Frank Kampmann was shoveling snow when he collapsed from a heart attack. He was at work clearing sidewalks with his friend of 20 years Paul Crook.
Crook found his friend collapsed on a loading dock.
“I pushed the door open and found him there laying and turning purple,” Crook said.
Crook called 911 and then he called his wife — a 911 supervisor in Virginia. She told him how to perform CPR.
“I’ve known frank for almost 20 years, so it makes it harder to do that to somebody that you know,” Crook said.
He continued to perform CPR on his friend until a team of D.C. firefighters showed up and took over, but even they couldn’t revive him.
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“Somewhere between 44 minutes and an hour,” Kampmann said. “I know, It’s like, Wow!”
Eventually his pulse returned, and now Kampmann feels great — and lucky.
“It’s my second chance, and I’m not going to throw it away,” he said.
He and his wife had the chance to thank those firefighters and his good friend Friday and present them each with a CPR life-saving coin.
Kampmann and Crook plan to get certified in CPR and urge others to do the same.
