South OC Man Saved By Quick-Thinking Wife, 911 Dispatcher

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — A south Orange County couple praised paramedics and doctors for saving a man's life Tuesday, though authorities say it wouldn't have been possible if his wife didn't know CPR, the Orange County Fire Authority reported.

Rancho Santa Margarita residents Steve Kielty and his wife Sharon met with Orange County Fire Authority paramedics and dispatchers for their quick action during a life-threatening emergency last month, ABC 7 reported.

Sharon called authorities when Steve, her 62-year-old. husband, went into full cardiac arrest and collapsed at their Rancho Santa Margarita home.

The scene happened when Steve sat at his couch July 1 after gardening in the couple's front yard, his wife Sharon told City News Service on Tuesday.

Sharon Kielty, who was being treated for heat issues herself and was on a heart monitor, was "taking it slow" at the time, she said.

"I came downstairs at around 9 a.m. and he's laying on the couch, which is very unusual because he's a go-getter," Sharon said.

Steve had felt some chest pain, which he thought was indigestion.

"I said `It's a beautiful day, do you want to go sailing in Dana Point?"' she said. "It's his favorite thing."

When her husband waved off a trip to the sea, it really raised her concern.

"OK, I thought, what's going on?" she said.

When her husband said he felt "clammy," she knew that was one of the symptoms of heart disease because she had been hospitalized in June for her own heart issues.

She decided to take her husband to the emergency room and while they were getting ready he managed to get upstairs and collapsed in front of her, hitting his head, but landing on the soft carpet in their walk-in closet.

The couple, who have been married for 35 years, were lifeguards in college, and Sharon decided four or five years ago to get recertified with CPR training so she could be a first-responder at her work.

"That was a godsend because the CPR rules had changed" over the years, she said.

Sharon immediately began chest compressions, "which are the most important," and which manually kept his blood flowing to save his organs and brain until paramedics could arrive, they said.

She also dialed 911 and got dispatcher Chris Carvalho, just months on the job.

"The dispatcher was fantastic," she said.

Carvalho kept Sharon calm as she pumped her husband's heart for five and a half minutes, she said.

"That moral support kept me from being alone in the scariest moment of my life," she said. "He kept me calm. He reassured me."

Steve said he started turning a "plum color," but paramedics were able to put an automatic CPR machine on him as they got him into an ambulance.

"I did not get his heart started," Sharon said. "It took two zaps (of a defibrillator) to get his heart started."

Steve added, "The fire captain told me I was clinically dead."

The doctors at Mission Hospital in Rancho Santa Margarita were calling him a "miracle man" because in most similar situations the CPR gets started too late and the patient comes in brain-dead, Sharon said.

Steve got a stent in the completely blocked part of the right side of his heart, then doctors waited about a week to put a stent in the left side.

"I feel good," he said. "I'm still doing physical therapy at home and I'm getting ready for cardiac rehab in 10 weeks."

Most of his work now is to "build up my endurance because right now I feel good, but I don't have the endurance."

The couple's three adult sons have been serving as their parents' "Uber drivers" for the time being, they said.

The couple is telling their story "as a public service announcement on the importance of learning CPR," Sharon said. "He would not be here if CPR had not happened. He would have been gone."
They praised the Mission Hospital doctors as "fantastic."

Steve also had to deal with a stroke and pneumonia while in the hospital in a medically induced coma.

"She wasn't sure I'd come back 100%," he said.

But he has no issues with his long-term memory and only a little bit of trouble with short-term memory.

"I hoped I'd done enough," she said. "Thank goodness the good Lord protected us and he's intact."

"This was the perfect scenario to save a life," Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi said. "His wife called 911 right away and then started CPR, the OCFA dispatcher gave her instructions and coached her through it, our firefighter paramedics arrived quickly and did the appropriate, advanced life-saving measures. Together, they all saved his life. By the time he arrived at Mission Hospital, he started breathing on his own. He's alive today because everyone did their role flawlessly."

City News Service contributed to this report.