On Sunday night, the New England Patriots faced off against the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium, where fans came together for the love of the game. Amidst the action-packed game, Mark McCullough of the Needham Fire Department and Anthony Colella of the Johnston, Rhode Island, Fire Department found themselves in a situation that called upon their professional expertise.
These are the two heroes from tonight who gave CPR to a fan who went into cardiac arrest at the @Patriots game ❤️ Anthony Colella of Johnston RI Fire and Mark McCullough of Needham Fire pic.twitter.com/qKJ38AKqGw
— Bridget Condon (@BridgetCondon_) September 18, 2023
A fan attending the game went into cardiac arrest, and these two firefighters scrambled to provide life-saving assistance, according to Boston.com.
Upon seeing a commotion and noticing police sprinting down the stairs, McCullough and Colella jumped into action. They found a man, estimated to be in his 50s, unconscious. Colella quickly checked the man's airway and pulse, determined he wasn't breathing and began performing CPR. With teamwork and precise execution, the firefighters managed to resuscitate the fan after about a minute of CPR.
After the man regained consciousness, he began vomiting, leading the firefighters to initially believe he was choking. However, it soon became clear that the man had experienced cardiac arrest and had fallen, striking the back of his head in the process, as noted by Boston.com. McCullough and Colella stayed with the man, who was attending the game with his son and brother-in-law, until emergency services arrived on the scene.
