Lachelle is alive and thriving after a cardiac arrest that put her survival in the hands of a yoga instructor, firefighters, EMS medics, a physician and an ECMO team. Now recovering with her mind and spirit intact, she is turning that gratitude into a literal chain of appreciation.
In a Friday post, Austin-Travis County EMS said Lachelle reunited with the emergency teams who helped save her life. She asked every clinical team member to sign a paper ribbon with their name and role, and the signed strips will be linked together for display in her home.
Austin Rescue Followed Every Link In The Survival Chain
The emergency began when Lachelle’s yoga instructor recognized that she was in distress inside a locked bathroom, enabled access and called 911. Austin Fire Department Engine 4 delivered the initial AED shocks and began pit-crew CPR, while medics moved into advanced life support after she developed refractory ventricular fibrillation.
The response then escalated into an ECMO evaluation, with Commander Trevor Burrier contacting a physician and Dr. Gray activating the Ascension Seton ECMO team. Lachelle said she is alive and recovering because the responders “did not give up,” crediting their clinical judgment, endurance, teamwork and calm under pressure, according to the EMS account.
ATCEMS Uses The Reunion To Push CPR Training
The story also underscores why Austin-Travis County EMS emphasizes public CPR and AED readiness. The department’s community outreach program offers both Hands-Only CPR and American Heart Association-certified BLS courses, while its public-access defibrillation program says trained bystanders and publicly available AEDs can make a major difference during sudden cardiac arrest.
This is not the first time ATCEMS has brought survivors together with the crews who treated them. In 2024, another ATCEMS survivor reunion highlighted how an Austin-area whole-blood program helped save a patient after a life-threatening hemorrhage.
For Lachelle, the reunion transformed a complex medical response into something she could hold onto and thank one person at a time. She said the responders may one day make it possible for her to meet her grandchildren, and the ribbon chain will keep that promise—and the people behind it—close to home.
