Tawnya Shimizu, a nurse who saved a man’s life on the roadside – credit, Shimizu supplied to the media

From Ottawa comes the story of a runner who woke up in the hospital with a burning question: who saved his life?

Tommy Chan went for a five kilometer run on May 20th, but he doesn’t remember anything several days either side of that. All he knows is what the doctors told him: he suffered post-run cardiac arrest.

A bit of detective work revealed at least where he was when he collapsed: a running app called Strava told him he finished his 5K around Bronson and Carling at 7:50 p.m. A smartwatch that is attached to the app to track his heart rate has a telling lapse just after that time.

Paramedics, meanwhile, told him that they had responded to a call about a man suffering cardiac arrest near that location around one hour later. He had been resuscitated with a defibrillator, but not before bystander CPR was administered; deep bruising and a broken rib being two souvenirs of the kindness of strangers.

Rewinding to May 20th, and Tawnya Shimizu was on a walk with her daughter when she saw a commotion just next to her car. A man, it appeared, had collapsed.

“I could hear the 9-1-1 operator giving directions on CPR and counting out the timing,” she told CBC News Ottawa. “So my daughter was immediately like, ‘Mommy, you’re a nurse. You need to help!'”

Rushing over and entering “work mode” she introduced herself to the crowd and the operator, and began to administer CPR, a lifesaving procedure that stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

SPECTACULAR CPR STORIES:

First responders arrived, used the defibrillator, and rushed Chan to the hospital, leaving Shimizu in a heap of adrenaline that subsided while her curiosity rose in tandem. She was wondering what would happen to him.

Chan, weeks later, posted a account of the event online with the header “Did you save my life?” and the word made it back to Shimizu, who was able to get in touch with Chan, learn that he had in fact survived, and even plan to meet together in the coming days.

“The biggest thank you,” Chan told CBC when asked what he would say. “I don’t know what else to say. Like, I can’t believe you were at the right place at the right time. So I don’t know how I can never repay you.”

SHARE This Story Of CPR And Strangers From Canada’s Capital On Social Media…