Survivor: Tim Quick
Date of Event:
Location of Event: Triathlon - Wisconsin
Rescuer(s):Ross Williams & Alex Keifer
For six long minutes, Tim Quick lay motionless on Bayshore Drive. Midway through the cycling leg of the Door County Sprint Triathlon, his heart failed without warning. He fell from his bike, unconscious, as the race flowed around him.
“I felt more dizzy than I ever have in my life,” Quick said days later. “I remember slowing down, and then nothing.”
Meant to be: Fellow Competitors and CPR
Close behind Quick was Ross Williams, another triathlete and a 17-year paramedic with Fitch Rona Emergency Services in Verona, Wisconsin. At first, Williams assumed he was approaching a typical bike crash. As he got closer, he saw that the rider was unresponsive. Quick had no pulse and his skin was turning blue.
Williams immediately began CPR. He rotated compressions with Alex Kiefer, an off-duty emergency responder who had also stopped to help. Soon after, Sheriff’s Deputy Austin Tlachac arrived and joined the effort. For several minutes, the group kept oxygenated blood moving through Quick’s body while another deputy retrieved an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
A Defibrillator and Rapid Response
A shock was delivered. CPR resumed. Then Quick began to move.
Less than 30 seconds later, Door County EMS had Quick in an ambulance on the way to the emergency room.
Two hours and two stents later, Quick awoke in the ICU with no lasting damage.
“I could have been 18 miles out on my bike in the backwoods or in a training swim,” Quick said. “Instead, I was here, with an EMT right behind me. Everyone involved was ready for this.”