Back in July, Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation National Spokesperson, Susan Koeppen, who survived cardiac arrest in 2011, was waiting to turn left at a busy intersection in Pittsburgh.
“I’m going to watch this guy because he doesn’t look right,” said Susan. “I watched him, he drifted right by me, jumped the curb, and crashed right here into the fence. I didn’t know what was wrong with him, I just knew he needed CPR.”
The man behind the wheel, Mark Symms, had suffered a cardiac arrest. Susan ran to help him.
Remarkably, the second bystander to stop and help is also an SCA survivor. “I hurried up and called 911 and let them know the location and I ran over to lend a helping hand,” said Dustin Kovalcik.
“We know that layperson CPR triples the chances of a person going home to their family,” said Dr. Ankur Doshi, from UPMC, a member of the SCAF Board of Directors. “So having someone who’s on the scene and who is willing to help to do basic skills to save someone’s life is really important.”
This week Susan, a news anchor at WPXI TV, and Mark reunited. Watch their story here.