WALNUT COVE, N.C. — A Triad woman's routine lunch almost turned into her last day alive, but she's here today after two well-trained strangers jumped into action.
For the Gaddy family, May 12 was a normal day.
"Every Sunday, we get dressed, and we go to the Kingdom Hall," said Kenneth Gaddy, husband of Joyce Gaddy.
After attending Kingdom Hall, the pair and a family friend went to dine at Piccolo Milano Pizza in Walnut Cove.
"We were sitting there and having lunch and a normal conversation. Joyce had ordered her vegetarian sub and the last thing I remember her saying is "There aren't enough mushrooms on this sub!," said Brianna Banks, family friend of the Gaddys.
Husband Kenneth Gaddy said in a matter of seconds, his wife Joyce collapsed to the floor. She was having a heart attack.
"I couldn't really believe it. It was like a dream. As I looked at my wife on the floor, I knew it wasn't a dream," Kenneth said.
That's when two strangers—Brian Wicker and Jimmy Brown—both jumped into action.
The two are Volunteer Fire Fighters who unknowingly were off-duty, eating at the same restaurant.
"I really wasn't focused on what was going on around me. We were focused on helping the lady that needed help," said Brian Wicker, a Volunteer Fire Fighter with Stokes County Volunteer Fire and Rescue.
"We always go through the steps of assuring that the patient is not breathing," said Jimmy Brown, a Volunteer Fire Fighter with Danberry Fire Department.
Joyce Gaddy was not breathing for eight long minutes.
Wicker and Brown continued chest compressions until additional fire EMS crews arrived on the scene—their efforts saved her life. Assisting agencies, Walnut Cove Fire and Rescue, Salem Chapel Fire Department, and Stokes County EMS helped to transport Gaddy to a nearby hospital.
"I don't remember going to the hospital. I don't remember going to the restaurant. I don't remember him talking. My memory just went," said Joyce Gaddy.
Joyce's family did remember the faces of the two men who saved her but not who they were.
Daughter Mary Jane contacted us to help find the two EMS workers. While we couldn't get them to meet up in person, we did arrange for Joyce and her family to FaceTime with one of the two Ems workers.
Joyce says she is grateful they were in the right place at the right time.
"I could have died that day and it just so happen that they were there and paying attention," said Joyce Gaddy.