By Laurel J. Sweet
The Boston Herald
SALISBURY, Mass. — To Paul Paquette, the burning sensation in his chest Aug. 1 felt like that morning’s coffee roiling up, souring a day of sun and fun at the beach.
A Tums, a surfside stroll with Maureen Paquette, his bride of 28 years, and the 3M production specialist from Westford expected he would have a new lease on life. Instead, Paul, just 47, dropped dead in his wife’s arms of a massive heart attack.
“He just dropped. He didn’t say anything,’' Maureen, 45, recalled yesterday as her husband, miraculously standing at her side, offered a steadying squeeze of her trembling hand.
The Paquettes returned to Salisbury Beach Reservation yesterday to thank the Department of Conservation and Recreation staff, state troopers and young lifeguards who brought Paul back to life not once, but three times that Friday thanks to teamwork and a defibrillator not much bigger than a laptop computer.
Convinced he might have otherwise gone to sleep in a lawn chair and never woken up, Paul, who has three granddaughters ages 2, 6 and 8, said, “If we’d stayed home on vacation, I wouldn’t be here. I never felt it coming on, to be honest. I thought it was heartburn.
“Every time I look at my grandchildren’s faces, I think of everyone on this beach,’' he said. “These people, you don’t realize what they really do. I’m only 47 years old. I had a long way to go.’'
Though he lost his mother to a heart attack, Paul, trim and fit, never had signs of trouble before.
Smiling at troopers Tony Alestock and Katherine Walsh of the state police mounted unit, lifeguards Fletcher Wasson, 21, and Brianna Davis, 16, and Mike Magnifico, the 521-acre park’s director, Maureen said, “I put my faith in them.’'
As Walsh held the horses and kept back the crowds, Alestock administered oxygen to Paul while Magnifico, yelling, “Paul! Paul, come back!’' to the man with no pulse began chest compressions. Wasson, an EMT, fired up the portable defibrillator, delivering three shocks to Paul’s reluctant heart.
“We just kept working on him, trying to bring him back,’' said Alestock, who’d just completed CPR recertification. He called the payoff of their tenacity “heartwarming.’'
To Magnifico, whose mother died of cancer last month, saving a life brought solace.
“It’s been a tough time,’' Magnifico said, gazing out across the beautiful sea with a bittersweet smile. “To be able to help revive Paul has made me feel a hell of a lot better.’'