Jerry Vauk Jr., Austin, TX – 38 at the time of the event (2008)

Saturday morning, Jerry sets off to test the bike route to his new workplace, two miles from home. He never got there. He doesn’t know why. In fact he can’t even remember the Friday before. He’s lucky to be able to tell the story. So very lucky, now he’s a survivor of the nation’s number one killer. He had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. He was found collapsed, under his bike, half on the sidewalk, half on the road.

Two men in a truck saw him and called 9-1-1. A nurse on her way to jazzercise class saw their truck blocking the lane and stopped to help administer CPR. No one else passed by while they waited for the emergency services.