Survivors reunited with first responders who saved them in tear-jerking FDNY ceremony

Subway

By means of Jack Morfet And Natalie O’Neill

It was an encouraging reunion.

Eight cardiac arrest survivors — ranging from a teenage boy to a 78-year-old marathon runner — were reunited Thursday with the first responders who saved them in a tearful ceremony in Brooklyn.

The FDNY’s Second Chance brunch, at the Liberty Warehouse in Red Hook, honored hardworking EMTs and paramedics who brought survivors back from the brink of death.

“We don’t often think about the sheer gratitude, relief and joy we bring to someone’s family,” FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said at the event.

“Most of the time, (first responders) are already dealing with the next call, the next emergency, unaware of the outcome of the lives they have touched.”

Here’s a look at some of those lives:

Dylan Garcia, 14, of Queens

Garcia was teaching gymnastics at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Academy in Woodhaven, Queens, in January 2023 when he suddenly collapsed and fell face first to the ground.

First responders rushed to the school, quickly began CPR and then zapped him twice with a defibrillator – until he got a heartbeat again. They inserted a breathing tube and took him to Jamaica Hospital.

“Without them, I don’t think I would be here,” Garcia told The Post. “It was a total surprise to me, I didn’t see it coming.”

Doctors later discovered that the boy suffered from acute myocarditis, an inflammation that hinders the heart’s ability to pump blood, after a COVID-19 infection.

He is now in good health, plays basketball and wants to become an electrical engineer, he said.

“It’s a great feeling to know that we were able to save a child and give him the opportunity to live his life and realize his dreams,” said Lt. Ricardo Otero, who was part of the team that rescued him.

Yi-Joo Kwon, 78, from New Jersey

The retired businessman was pounding the pavement during the New York Marathon in November when he felt pain in his chest.

Within seconds, he fell over without warning on the top floor of the Verrazano Bridge.

“We got word that there was a man halfway down,” said Lt. Jeanine Rodriguez of Station 43 in Coney Island. “It was the penultimate or last wave of runners, so it wasn’t as chaotic as if it happened right at the start, but there were a lot of people around.”

The first responders performed CPR, shocked him with a defibrillator and set up an ECG monitor to determine that his heart was beating very slowly.

First responders rushed Kwon to Staten Island University North hospital, where doctors placed several stents on his heart.

“I am forever grateful to my rescuers,” Kwon said through his daughter, who translated from Korean.

He has since recovered and plans to run another marathon.

Wilfredo Ruiz, 60, of Brooklyn

Ruiz’s wife was stunned to find him on the floor of their home in January 2022.

A family friend called 911 and first responders rushed to the scene, performing CPR and inserting a breathing tube.

After nearly twenty minutes of intensive CPR, Ruiz finally regained his pulse – much to the relief of the EMTs.

“I don’t remember the EMTs, but I thank God for it. I feel honored,” he said.

His nerve-wracking near-death experience has since inspired his daughter to train as a paramedic, he said.

Lt. Sencia Datilus, who helped revive Ruiz, cried tears of joy when she met the man she helped save.

“When I see someone that we have rescued and brought back to life, it really warms my heart,” she said.

“I come in, do my job and never think about the people we brought back to life,” she said. “To actually meet someone whose heart I saw stop and then come back is breathtaking.”

“I’m so glad you got a second chance at life,” she said.