NEWTON, Mass. -- None of us knows when we'll get our final shot in life, but Chuck Conley realizes his could have been last week.
Conley, of Belmont, was playing a basketball pickup game when he collapsed.
"It was scary. I had no pulse, no breathing. I had heart stoppage," said Conley. The Wednesday night pickup game at Newton's Hyde Community Center was taking a water break when Conley sat down to catch his breath.
"Next thing I know it's tunnel vision and I passed out,” said Conley. His breathing stopped and then his heart.
Several players rushed to give Conley CPR. One player in particular, Bryan Doo, the Boston Celtics strength and conditioning coach, remembered the defibrillator hanging on the wall.
"The only part that made me nervous is when the machine said press the button, shock him," Doo said.
"Never did I ever anticipate it would be used on anybody and in particular me," said Conley. The device got his heart beating again until paramedics arrived.
"The point is I think anybody could have done it. I think I was there and it happened to be me," said Doo.
Conley had a clogged artery. He's already had surgery to fix it and felt good enough to return to the gym.
"It's extremely emotional, it’s a big difference between a week ago and where I am today," he said. The defibrillator had been placed in the gym by a local doctor whose friend had died at the same gym playing basketball.
SOURCE: TheBostonChannel.com.