Cardiac Arrest Survivor Thanks EMSA Paramedics For Saving Her Life

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- A Green Country mom says she's lucky to be alive. She says it was the persistence of paramedics that saved her life.

Tara Snyder was with a friend when she collapsed almost a year ago. Paramedics were on the scene in four minutes and started CPR on the mother of three who was pulse-less and not breathing.

When she still didn't have a pulse, they shocked her nine times.

"I'm so grateful, my family is so grateful, my three children are so grateful for EMSA and these guys," said Tara Snyder.

At 31-years-old and with no history of heart problems, EMSA says Snyder is not your usual cardiac arrest patient. They say she was inexplicably and suddenly struck with a lethal heart rhythm known as Ventricular Fibrillation.

Snyder was in the hospital for more than a month. Today, Snyder is doing well and is back to taking care of her children.

Monday morning at EMSA's paramedic academy in Tulsa, Snyder thanked the men who saved her. The paramedics who saved her were Ed McConville, Gary Bullock and Christian Merrified.