A Pitt Meadows man is searching for the people who saved his life.
Paul Craig was cycling along the dikes, something he does five to six days a week, when he went into a cardiac arrest.
Craig was between Neaves Road and Harris Road on the south side of the Alouette River when all of a sudden he felt dizzy.
It’s only been a week since he was released from the hospital
Riding along the dike like he does five or six days a week. He was between Neaves and Harris Roads on the south side of the Alouette and all of a sudden he felt dizzy.
“So I decided I’ld stop and pretty much immediately blacked out,” said Craig.
“I remember a couple little things. I remember the people that found me. I couldn’t see at that time but I could hear their voices,” explained the cyclist.
“I’m pretty sure that the husband said that his wife used to be a nurse,” he noted, before he heard the sirens of first responders.
Craig also felt an incredible pain in his chest, which, from what he understands today, was his heart stopping.
“And then, much like they say, an incredible calm came over me and just a white light was all I could see, and I mean, I knew I was dead, but I wasn’t panicked, I was just kind of very peaceful,” he described.
Six minutes later, after being shocked once from an AED by the fire department and again by life support in the ambulance, he woke up.
He would spend two nights in the Emergency Department at Ridge Meadows Hospital, and another three nights in the Intensive Care Unit. During that time he was transported to Royal Columbian Hospital for an angiogram and where a cardioverter-defibrillator was implanted in his chest. When he returned to Ridge Meadows he spent another 11 days on Three West.
“My care there was unbelievable,” he said.
Craig said the incident has been stressful for his whole family, including his mother who is in her mid-80’s, as his brother passed away at the age of 39 – after having a heart attack while riding his bike.
Now, not even a week after his release from the hospital, Craig said he is feeling better, and is looking for the couple who first came upon him on the dike. He wants to thank them, if they want to be thanked, along with the Pitt Meadows fire department, and the staff at Ridge Meadows Hospital for their compassionate care.
He has a feeling the couple think he didn’t make it as he was told when they put him into the ambulance he had not been breathing, nor did he have a pulse, for six minutes.
“I’ld really like them to know that they saved my life.”