Heroes save man from cardiac arrest

Heroes save man from cardiac arrest
A man is lucky to be alive after collapsing at a bowling alley.

57-year-old Dennis Kelley is recovering from a heart attack that happened on December 9th. He hopes sharing his story will encourage people to learn CPR and get more businesses to have portable defibrillators in their buildings.

“I am so thankful, I am so blessed for the people who saved my life,” Kelley said.

Dennis loves bowling and you can usually find him at City Limits in Mason. That’s exactly where he was when he went into cardiac arrest.

“Took my two bowling balls and went to put them on the rack and just collapsed,” Kelley said.

He doesn’t remember anything after collapsing. Thankfully, there were people nearby who knew what to do. Two men who knew CPR were in the bowling alley when Kelley had a heart attack. Off duty Ingham County Sheriffs Sergeant Adam Jackson and retired paramedic Kevin Ammerman who has 40 years of CPR experience. Sergeant Jackson happened to be at the bowling alley having dinner with his family. He heard someone needed help and jumped into action.

“Found him lying on the floor,” Jackson said.

That’s when Sergeant Jackson saw Ammerman giving Dennis CPR.

“God put me there for a reason and apparently Dennis was that reason,” Ammerman said.

Sergeant Jackson reflected on the fact that he and Ammerman were both at City Limits when Dennis went into cardiac arrest.

“I don’t know how the outcome would have been if these circumstances hadn’t been the same,” Jackson said.

Just down the road was Deputy William Belanger, luckily he had a portable defibrillator with him. He quickly arrived at the bowling alley and took over the CPR. It took 4 shocks to get Dennis’s pulse back.

“The timing is everything. Being right there was great. Being able to give back and seeing that Dennis is here and smiling and standing next to us, it’s extremely rewarding,” Belanger said.

It’s safe to say these men were at the right place at the right time. They are using this incident to remind everyone that knowing CPR is so important because it allows for more opportunities to have someone at the right place, at the right time.

“If this results in even one or two people saying hey I’m gonna take some CPR training or hey we need to get an AED at this location I am all for it. And I am very very glad to be here,” Dennis said.