El Dorado County woman reunites with first responders who saved her life
By Peyton Headlee
Click here for updates on this story
PLACERVILLE, California (KCRA) — Janet Langley, 76, reunited with the first responders who saved her life after she suffered a cardiac arrest at her Cameron Park home in June.
“I’ve been given a second chance at life,” Langley said.
Langley said she went to the doctor’s office for her yearly physical on June 1 and that everything was great. Two weeks later, after a day of golfing and swimming at her pool, she went into cardiac arrest while talking to her husband.
“Almost immediately just slumped over and my heart stopped beating. No warning, no, anything,” she said.
Her husband called 911, and first responders arrived within six minutes.
“We found Janet pulseless in her living room,” Cameron Wiggans, with the Cameron Park Fire Department / CAL FIRE Amador-El Dorado Unit, said. “We immediately begun ALS care, it’s advanced life support.”
Nine minutes passed before Langley’s heart started beating again. Four months later, Langley got to meet the crews who brought her back to life and share just how thankful she is.
“Thank you from the bottom of my beating heart,” Langley said. “Because of your lifesaving care, I was able to celebrate my 76th birthday with loved ones.”
The gratitude was mutual, as the first responders shared their appreciation for the rare opportunity to see the outcome of their work.
“It’s a very rewarding reaction to hear that, you know, someone’s alive today because of the interventions and the care that we’ve provided,” Wiggans said. “We never get a chance to see the aftermath of patient care. We never get to see the recovery. We never get to know what happened after we drop the patient off at the hospital.”
This time, they did — seeing firsthand the life their efforts helped save and the time it gave Langley back.
“On behalf of all of those people you have saved who didn’t get a chance to say thank you. Thank you,” Langley said.
Langley now has an implanted defibrillator, and doctors have not been able to determine the cause of her cardiac arrest. She has been working on recovery at Marshall Cardiac Rehabilitation in Placerville.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.