'Hero' firefighter saves woman by performing CPR for 30 minutes after she suffered a cardiac arrest mid-flight
An off-duty California firefighter is being hailed a hero for saving a woman's life onboard a flight to Los Angeles after she went into cardiac arrest and couldn't be revived with an Automated External Defibrillator.
On September 14, Trevor Jaha, with the Savannah Fire Rescue in Georgia, was on a Delta flight 2911 from Detroit, when he noticed a female passenger undergoing a heart attack.
After the woman was administered four shocks from a portable Automated External Defibrillator (AED), the woman, identified as only Chelsea, from the Jacksonville, Florida, remained without a pulse. That's when Jaha jumped into action and started giving the person life-saving treatment, which he continued for half an hour.
"A woman on his flight to L.A. suffered Sudden Cardiac Death & had no pulse after 4 shocks with an AED. Jaha performed CPR for more than 30 min. while the plane made an emergency landing. After a 5th shock a faint pulse was detected. After a hospital stay she regained the ability to walk & talk - with no signs of brain damage," a Facebook post on the fire department's website said.
After being given a fifth shock from the AED, a faint pulse was detected from the resident and she was taken to a local hospital. Meanwhile, the flight was diverted to Kansas City.
In a followup post, shared by the Savannah Fire Rescue, Chelsea was seen smiling in the hospital. “She is my sister, and he saved her. I can’t thank him enough and I just wanted to make people aware, he’s a hero," Josh H. of Jacksonville wrote in the caption of the post.
Under the same post, another passenger, who was on the flight at the time and witnessed the incident, applauded Jaha's efforts.
"I was on that flight with them when my husband and I heard them ask for a Dr or a nurse on the plane I said why don’t they ask for paramedics or Emts this is an emergency that’s what they do everyday. I’m so glad she is ok I have wondered everyday what happened to that young lady!!! The airline handled the emergency very well and even though it was very scary it was handled professionally and quickly. Thank you Trevor and everyone else that helped that day," the user said.