LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – A boy still has his father to go fishing with and work on cars, thanks to four complete strangers who noticed he had a medical emergency in the middle of traffic.
“I just want to thank them,” Henry Purdie said.
Henry said Keith Purdie was driving at the intersection of West A and Coddington Avenue when he had a heart attack in the middle of traffic. He said what happened next was all thanks to four Lincoln people.
One of them is Kimberly Malone-Mueller. She was on her way to Russ’s Market on Saturday afternoon when she noticed that Keith’s bakkie was sitting at the intersection and not moving. People were honking but the truck was still not driving.
“While it was my turn, I noticed that he was looking down and I thought ‘well, if people look down, they will look up if they are looked for,'” Malone-Mueller said.
She puts her car in the park and knocks on Keith’s window and asks him if he’s not well. She got no response and tried the door handle, luckily it was unlocked.
She gets Keith without a pulse.
“Luckily, the man’s foot stuck to the brake so I could put the car in the park and turn it off. At that point, another man stopped in traffic and we were able to get him out of the car,” Malone-Mueller said. said. said.
At this point, Malone-Mueller finds herself with a 911 transmitter on the phone.
“She asked if I knew CPR and I immediately said no,” Malone-Mueller said.
It was then that Josh Brewer showed up and started doing chest compressions, giving Keith the chance to fight for his life.
“I just jumped in to help,” Brewer said. ‘I would hope someone would do it for me, and I would do it for anyone. I just jumped in to save a life. ‘
Brewer and a police officer who was not on duty did CPR until paramedics arrived just three blocks away from the fire station and took Keith to the hospital.
“He’s doing well,” Henry said. “As good as he can be.”
Henry said he did not have the words to thank those who helped his father.
“I’m so grateful,” he said. “To make them act like that means the world.”
Malone-Mueller and Brewer said they never expected to find out what Keith’s outcome would be.
“I was just hoping he withdrew and could be healthy,” Brewer said.
But it was a sigh of relief to hear from the family.
“I did not want his last moments along the way to be surrounded by strangers,” Malone-Mueller said. “I’m so glad he’s going to have other moments.”
Malone-Mueller, Brewer and Henry all took one away from this experience.
“In this situation where we are with my father, CPR was a life-saving thing,” Henry said. “CPR is very important and people who know how to do it are an excellent resource.”
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