A B.C. woman was saved by a stranger who performed CPR when she suffered a heart attack. For Tanya Leibel, it was a miracle that she was alive without any damage to her brain when she suffered a heart attack.
The 66-year old was standing atop the steps of a popular Coquitlam, B.C. trail when she felt a massive pressure on her chest that shot down on her left arm. She waved to her son-in-law, Chris, for help and sat on a rack and then she collapsed.
It was after 2 days when Leibel woke up in a healthcare facility. She was informed by her doctor that she suffered a massive heart attack due to a blockage in her coronary arteries.
She was lucky that a nearby stranger quickly performed CPR after she collapsed. No one knew who the mystery woman was or how to reach her.
Rapid thinking saves a life
Leibel learned her rescuer was Tammy Bryant, a 58-year old school bus driver from Coquitlam. Bryant was walking the trail with her friend, Celia Newton when they spotted Leibel, as she fell off a rock.
Two days prior, Bryant had finished a CPR re-certification course as part of her job driving children with special needs.
Bryant stated that they ran over and Leibel was twitching and gasping for breath. Bryant performed chest compressions on Leibel for 10 minutes as her son-in-law called 911. At one point, Bryant stopped the compressions at the advice of the 911 operator.
When her lips turned blue immediately, Bryant resumed CPR. Upon the arrival of the paramedics, they took over and used a defibrillator twice on Leibel.
For more information about this story, click here to read now.
LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a CPR class and for more information, check out these sources:
Mayo Clinic – Heart Attack: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments
Mayo Clinic – First Aid CPR Basics: Understanding Techniques and Procedures
Healthline – CPR: Essential Techniques for Emergency Response