It's a Christmas miracle.
When 77-year-old Upper West Sider Kearney Mims collapsed during his morning run near Strawberry Fields in Central Park last month, two good Samaritans rushed in to help perform CPR. They performed chest compressions and saved his life before Lenox Hill paramedics arrived.
In the present, Mims has tracked down the guardian angels who helped him, and they are both reunited with the doctors named Flavia.
Mr. Mims, a former IT professional and Army veteran, held a celebration last week at Mr. Golden's home on the Upper West Side with Dr. Flavia Golden, 59, and Dr. Flavia Fioretti, 42. This whole thing is miraculous in so many ways,” he told the Post. .
Mims, who typically runs up to 4.4 kilometers five days a week, lost consciousness and fell to the ground in a park around 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 19.
“There were no unusual symptoms or pain,” Mims said. “Then I collapsed and stopped breathing.”
Golden, an internist who practices on the Upper East Side, found Mims face down on the ground while on the phone.
“I ran there and checked on him,” Golden told the Post, finding Mims with blood running down his face from a fall. She said she woke up earlier than usual after her trip to Alaska due to jet lag.
“He stopped breathing, so I turned him over and looked for a pulse. I started with chest compressions,” Golden recalled.
Around the same time, Fioretti, a pediatrician who also lives on the Upper West Side, witnessed the incident while taking her son to school.
“He had no pulse. Technically he passed,” Fioretti told the Post.
Fioretti and Golden took turns compressing Mims' chest for nearly 10 minutes while another kind passerby, 29-year-old Alexa Lopez, called 911. “It's very difficult to continue CPR for this long. We took turns until the ambulance arrived.”
A team of Northwell Lenox Hill paramedics and paramedics arrived and found Mim in cardiac arrest, without a pulse and not breathing.
At the time, he had no identification and only a New York Sports Club cell phone, so Fioretti and Golden were able to find him before being taken to Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side. There was no way to inform his family or find out his name.
There, after shocks from a defibrillator failed, staff administered life-saving drugs and continued CPR, ultimately resuscitating Mims' heart.
Dr. Perry Fisher, an interventional cardiologist, used a stent and an intra-aortic balloon pump to open Carney's artery and restore blood flow.
Dr. Brandon Godbout, assistant director of Lenox Hill's emergency department, credited the quick acting of passersby for immediately performing CPR and saving Mims' life.
“His heart has almost completely recovered to its pre-arrest state,” Godbout said.
Mims' last memory was finishing the run before going into cardiac arrest.
“People started saying I actually died. I'm still processing it,” Mims said.
As a member of the Army Reserve in the 1970s, he trained as a basic field medic and also participated in emergency dispatches responding to motor vehicle and motorcycle accidents.
“You never knew what the stakes would be. I actually did CPR,” Mims said. “In some ways, I guess I was meant to be on the other side of this.”
His partner Ruth French, 79, said Mims' near-death experience had given them a new lease on life.
“My bucket list is full. I recently said to Carney as we were removing the compost, 'If you weren't here, this would be lonely for me.' Compost with you I miss bringing it out,” she said. “I literally just met him in the morning.”
Golden also called nearly every hospital in New York to locate Mims and return his forgotten hat. Eventually, Lennox Hill connected her with Mims, who was also trying to find the women who saved him.
“I was so grateful,” Mims said.
Last week, Mims and French attended a celebration with Golden and Fioretti's families.
“It was very emotional and full of love,” Fioretti told the Post. “We are all grateful to be together.”
Mr Mims said: “Everyone did the right thing at the right time. I feel blessed with my life.”
