CPR Saves Poet’s Life: Hell’s Kitchen Resident Urges Neighbors to Learn Life-Saving Skills

After preventing a near-death incident during a performance last week, one Manhattan Plaza resident is urging Hell’s Kitchen neighbors to hone their CPR skills. Dancer Melanie Futorian was participating in her friend Peter Valentyne’s poetry reading and performance Six Authors in Search of a Character on July 31, in Manhattan Plaza’s Ellington Room, when the unthinkable happened. Ten minutes into the performance, Peter fell to the ground and was in cardiac arrest.

“It looked like he wasn’t breathing,” Melanie said. “His eyes were glazed over, I took his pulse and I immediately started CPR.” She gave Peter chest compressions while another friend, Ward Nixon, assisted with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Melanie was relying on her memory of a one-day CPR course she took at the Red Cross 30 years ago. Still, that was more knowledge than the roughly 60 other people in the room who were unfamiliar with the process.

“Thankfully, I remembered [the class] and I thought, I really love this guy. He’s a great human being. He’s kind and talented and smart and adorable, and has a lot of life in him,” said Melanie. In performing CPR, “I was almost like a machine.” 

After about 18 minutes, emergency medical services arrived and transported Peter to Bellevue Hospital, where he is currently recovering.

Peter, a poet and playwright, doesn’t remember too much from that night.

“I started a poem that set the tone for the whole show, and suddenly I was in a pool of blood,” he said, speaking on the phone from Bellevue. “Once I heard about [what happened] I felt like it’s a miracle that I’m still alive.”

To Peter, his collapse — amid a poetry reading touching on themes of the collective unconscious, birth, death and the mysteries of the New York City subway system — was akin to a moment “when art merges with real life.” He has one word to describe how it feels in retrospect: “Epic.” 

Right before he collapsed, Peter had read an ominous verse of poetry: “Who died and made me the sole protagonist of the subway?”

Later, he was planning to read a poem about a man who gives birth on the A train. “Then I ended up almost dying. It was like a birth and death together,” Peter said. “It was very artistically fascinating.”

Now, Melanie, who has always had an interest in health and medicine, plans to obtain a certification as a CPR instructor, so she can teach courses within the community.

The Red Cross, the American Heart Association, the FDNY and other organizations offer CPR and first aid training courses across the city at various price points. 

“I’m trying to inspire people to get educated,” Melanie said. “Learn CPR. You never know what could happen.”

Peter hopes to be discharged from the hospital in the coming days. After he’s back on his feet, there’s sure to be a second rendition of his performance.

“I’m determined and I think I need to do it,” he said. He also plans on taking Melanie’s CPR course.