Man saves his best friend's life during heart attack

LEWES, Del. — What started as a guys weekend for some friends from Delaware escalated to a life-saving experience.

Damien Richard, Sean Harrison and Ricky Bryan began their fishing trip in the Florida Keys on the sunny deck of a fishing boat, but ended it in the hospital after Bryan had a massive heart attack.

"I'm lucky. I'm the lucky one who is still here and I'm only here because of Sean," Bryan told WRDE.

On the morning of Jan. 2, everyone except for Bryan was having breakfast in their camper when they heard a loud thump against the side of the RV. "We all shuffled out. As soon as Sean rolled him over, I just saw the color of Rick. And almost simultaneously, the timing of that, I was on the phone with 911 as soon as I heard 'Wasn't breathing,'" said Richard.

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As Richard called for help, Harrison performed CPR on his childhood best friend. "Instinctively I knew I had to start compressions and so I started and I got maybe 10-15 seconds and I noticed he was aspirating out of his mouth and it wasn't going back in. And I kind of started freaking because I didn't want my friend to suffocate," said Harrison.

But Bryan didn't suffocate. His friends' quick actions kept him alive until the Monroe County Fire Department arrived. "I had coded 5 times and I was defibrillated 10 times, so I was worked on, and no one gave up on me, so they get, they deserve the credit for this," said Bryan.

Bryan's first responders have since won an award for their actions that day, and emotional reunions have followed. Now back home, their friendships have taken on a whole new meaning. "Besides my kids being born, it was the biggest thing in my life. I am living today because of him, plain and simple, so that means a lot," said Bryan.

A toothache was Bryan's only symptom leading up to his heart attack, which explains why he was not hungry that morning. All three men now want to encourage others to not only learn CPR, but also recognize the signs of a heart attack. "The doctors tell him it's a ten percent chance of somebody having a heart attack outside the hospital and surviving. Why can't it be 20?" asked Harrison.

NBC/WRDE