A local man who was brought back by first responders from cardiac arrest doesn’t remember much about his brush with death.
But Kyil McCauley, 59, can’t stop thanking the local police officers, firefighters and paramedics who raced to his aid in Shadow Creek Farms and found him unconscious and unresponsive.
“When they showed up, I was dead,” McCauley said in a blunt description of what Columbus police officer Wesley Dodge and Sgt. Alyson Rech saw when they arrived just a couple minutes after a 911 call May 18 about a person in cardiac arrest.
The two officers immediately began CPR, continuing until a few minutes later, when Columbus firefighters from Station 6 in Walesboro and a Columbus Regional Hospital ambulance crew arrived. After the paramedics used a defibrillator, they got a pulse from McCauley. But his pulse stopped again, and paramedics used the defibrillator a second time before he was placed in an ambulance and transported to the hospital.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Doctors at the hospital brought McCauley back a third time while in the hospital later that night. While hospitalized, he eventually had cardiac surgery to bypass six blockages in his arteries, and recovered from that, eventually was released into cardiac rehab.
After his release from the hospital in June, McCauley tried to express his gratitude by bringing a tray of homemade cookies to firefighters at Columbus Fire Station 6, the station that responded to the 911 call. But McCauley hoped to do more, asking if it was possible to thank each individual who had contributed to saving him.
Columbus firefighters arranged to make that happen Friday afternoon, when McCauley met many of the first responders for the first time to say thank you.
“I’ve always respected people who try to do this — save people’s lives,” he said of the police officers, firefighters and paramedics to came to his aid back in May. “You have to be a selfless person, and a caring person to do this knowing you have someone’s life in your hands.”
McCauley’s life literally hung in the balance during the incident.
The circumstances surrounding his cardiac arrest began May 17 when he and his girlfriend, who shared a house in Shadow Creek, decided to separate, he said. He had arranged for a U-Haul truck and a storage locker and on May 18 was alone at the house moving his belongings out when literally, everything stopped.
“I don’t remember (that) Friday at all,” he said.
In a twist of fate that worked in McCauley’s favor, the woman he had been living with had stopped at a nearby Cork Liquors to pick up some beer as she headed back to work, and inadvertently picked up cold beer, which she decided to bring back to the house.
That’s when she found McCauley unresponsive on the ground outside the house and called 911.
“It’s kind of bittersweet,” he said of learning who had called 911. “She saved my life. I do appreciate the irony of it.”
Responding to the call
Rech and Dodge were the first on the scene, heading there with lights and sirens on from downtown, a trip that took about two minutes. Although McCauley’s significant other was trying to do CPR, they took over immediately to try to manually move blood through McCauley’s heart until the paramedics and firefighters arrived with a defibrillator.
McCauley’s heart was beating when he arrived at the hospital, but at 8:30 p.m. that night, his pulse stopped again and was again brought back by hospital personnel — all while McCauley remained unconscious.
Hospital officials woke him up May 27 to let him know he would need to have cardiac surgery, and then on May 28 he underwent a six-way coronary artery bypass, allowing that six is “just about all of them,” he said.
“They said I went through it like a champ,” McCauley said.
He was released from the hospital June 4, and 10 days after that went to the fire station to offer his thanks.
“I had a strong urge to meet the first responders after I got out of the hospital,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here without them. They knew what to do in a timely manner and they saved my life.”
Saying thanks
On Friday, the police officers, firefighters and ambulance crew gathered at the Fire Station 6 truck bay and introduced themselves quietly to McCauley, exchanging handshakes and hugs as McCauley put names and faces together for the first time.
“It’s nice to meet you finally,” he said to Dodge, and the police officer replied, “It’s nice to see you standing.”
“We don’t usually get to see the outcome,” Dodge said, adding, “It’s nice to see a win.”
“I’m just glad you guys were there,” McCauley replied to officers Dodge and Rech. “I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.”
McCauley also joked with Rech that her CPR technique was perfect and that “my ribs still remind me you did an awesome job.”
Rech said her training immediately kicked in when the two officers arrived at the scene.
Firefighter Craig Weddle, who had also been at the scene, gave Rech credit for the quick decision and skill in doing the chest compressions, saying that one of the reasons McCauley is here was because of her skill.
When they arrived and put monitors on McCauley, paramedics said they could see on the machines that Rech was compressing McCauley’s heart to move blood through his body.
“This is special,” Weddle said of the moments meeting McCauley and the chance to talk with someone who might not have made it. “A lot of the time, we don’t have this outcome.”
High school classmates
Fire Department Battalion Chief Dan Cleland wasn’t in Columbus when a crew he supervises was dispatched to the cardiac arrest, but he later learned that his high school classmate was the person who was saved.
“The essence of this is the community should know that when given the training and the equipment and the crew we have, we were able to get this outcome for Kyil,” he said.
Cleland and McCauley graduated from Hauser High School in 1977 and both played on the high school baseball team. McCauley was a catcher and Cleland played left field. Cleland checked on McCauley in the hospital during his recovery and the two reminisced about their friendship at Friday’s gathering.
McCauley’s life has changed a great deal since May 18. He now lives with his aunt, Joy Hall, in northern Rush County. She is a retired registered nurse who is keeping an eye on him.
Lifestyle changes
He is completing cardiac rehab and has joined the Planet Fitness health club after learning his definition of an active lifestyle wasn’t at the level that the American Heart Association considers active. He has adopted a high-protein, low-fat and low-salt, heart-healthy diet.
“It’s been totally life-changing,” he said. “There was no way I was eating correctly or led an active lifestyle.”
On Monday, he returned to his job at Faurecia on Gladstone Avenue, where he works as a line supervisor, something the first responders said was incredible compared to where he had been in May.
Nearly every first responder at the Friday session said they are particularly touched to know that McCauley had survived because so many cardiac arrest patients don’t, or suffer serious effects from the experience.
Firefighter Scott Stam said it was good to see McCauley doing so well.
“We never get to do this,” he said of meeting someone who had been saved.
McCauley said he will never stop spreading the word about what the first responders did for him, and what their expertise and skill has meant in giving him another chance at life.
“I just wanted to offer my heartfelt thanks — no pun intended,” he said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Pull Quote” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
“When they showed up, I was dead.”
— Kyil McCauley of first responders regarding 911 call May 18 about a person in cardiac arrest.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
