Dawn Conrad was in the car with a group of friends on the way back from a football game when she went into cardiac arrest. I was sitting in the back seat and Dawn was sitting next to me, and I felt her fall against my shoulders,” her friend Bill Palmer said. He turned to look at Dawn and saw that she was gasping for air. Bill, Paul King, and Dave Mesz immediately pulled over. They knew there was no time to panic. Thankfully, each of them had learned CPR three years ago, and now was the time to put their training to use.
Mesz says of the incident, “I just knew a couple things. I knew that once I started, I couldn’t stop until responders got there. That was my biggest concern, and that three minutes seemed like a half hour.” But they did continue until first responders arrived, and Dawn made a full recovery. She says that it has indeed made their friendship stronger, and that she will be grateful to them forever.
