Middletown Man Saves His Father's Life In McDonald's Parking Lot

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — On Sunday, Oct. 18 a Middletown man saved his father's life when the older man had a heart attack in the parking lot of the Hwy. 35 McDonald's.

The man is Bill Gardell, 34, and his father is Dennis Gardell, 69. Lincroft and Fairview paramedics who responded to the scene — as well as doctors at Riverview — said that if the younger Gardell had not started CPR right away when he did, his father likely would have died.

That Sunday afternoon started out innocently enough: With a family walk in a nearby park and stopping for some burgers. Gardell's two children, ages 3 and 5 — Dennis' grandchildren — were in the backseat; his dad was sitting in the front seat.

"We were in the car; we had just gone through the drive-through at the McDonald's and we were still in the parking lot," said the younger Gardell.

The four of them had just gone for a 45-minute walk through Tindall Park but, "it didn't seem like much of an exertion for him. He didn't seem to be in any distress," said Gardell. Plus, his father has no history of heart problems, is pretty active and regularly babysits his grandchildren, who call him Pop Pop.

"He just was totally normal and all of a sudden he became unresponsive and started gagging almost," recalled his son. His father's head abruptly tipped back and he started to make a gurgling sound. "I saw that he wasn't breathing. I called 911 and they advised to start CPR."

Gardell is a former member of Fairview First Aid Squad and also a Middletown volunteer firefighter. He knows how to stay cool under pressure and was remarkably matter-of-fact relaying this story to Patch. He thought about driving his dad to Riverview Medical Center himself — it's about 15 minutes away — but instead he did as he was advised by the 911 call taker.

"I pulled him out of the car and put him on the ground in the parking lot and started doing CPR right away," he said.

Lincroft and Fairview paramedics shortly arrived to find a find a man on his back in a parking spot with a younger man doing chest compressions.

EMTs Christina Dunham and Scott Agrusti took over CPR (which is very physically exhausting if done by one person). The older man had no pulse and the team had to give him a defibrillation shock while they kept doing chest compressions. A Middletown police officer arrived, who also helped with chest compressions.

Incredibly, Gardell required nine defibrillation shocks in total, "Which is a lot, but was necessary to save his life," said Agrusti.

The shocks had to be delivered every two minutes, and CPR and defibrillation was continued in the back of the ambulance. It was only then, en route to Riverview in Red Bank, that the older man seemed to move, tried to take a breath and showed signs of life.

"This time when we checked for a pulse, one was there," said Agrusti.

Gardell was admitted to Riverview and kept there for four nights, said his son. Doctors told him he had suffered a heart attack.

It was immediately starting CPR that likely saved the man, said paramedics.

"The doctors at Riverview told me more than once that starting CPR right away saved my dad's life," said Gardell. "I'm so glad I didn't drive to Riverview myself. If I had been driving, I wouldn't have been doing CPR and he would have died before we got there."

"You always have a little bit of oxygen in your bloodstream," explained Django Wiegers, who was not at the scene, but is a media spokesman for Middletown EMS. "With CPR, you are moving that oxygen around the body and hopefully getting that oxygen to the brain."

Dennis Gardell has no memory of the entire incident.

"He's out of the hospital now and staying with my sister (who also lives in Middletown)," said Gardell. "He's doing OK. He is very grateful because he knows how lucky he is."

Gardell added that his children seem OK, too, even after witnessing such a traumatic event and seeing their father have to save their grandfather in a McDonald's parking lot.

"They seem to understand that he went to the hospital and they understand he's home now," said Gardell. "We've very close. He's Pop Pop and he's our number one babysitter, so we want him back."

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The EMTS who responded that day are Lincroft First Aid EMT/Felician nursing student Christina Dunham, Fairview First Aid Squad paramedic Scott Agrusti, Deputy Fairview EMS Chief Floyd Goldstein, Port Monmouth First Aid members Kevin Welsh and Liam Musa, plus Hackensack Meridian Health Care paramedics Natalie Shepherd and Jane Christensen