By Nancy McCleary
The Fayetteville Observer
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Sometimes, the biggest inspirations are just down the corner. Ask David Garcia and Greg Stoudt.
The two lived less than 10 houses apart, attended the same church and yet had never met.
Not until the day in 2011 when Stoudt, a Hoke County volunteer firefighter, responded to a medical call at Garcia’s home.
Stoudt saved the life of Garcia’s 17-year-old autistic son, Jacob, who was choking to death after suffering a grand mal seizure.
It was a day that changed Garcia’s life and career path.
Garcia was working at a soft drink distribution company, ready to finish his career there.
But Stoudt’s actions so inspired Garcia that he quit the job and, at the age of 47, became a firefighter with the Fayetteville Fire Department.
“That’s my man,” Garcia said, as he and Stoudt fist-bumped as they told their story.
“I’m really blessed,” said Garcia, who’s now assigned to Station 9 on Santa Fe Drive.
Garcia and his wife, Melissa, a special education teacher, were both at work that early autumn day.
Their oldest son, Nick, now 22, was home with Jacob, 17, a special needs teen, who had suffered seizures periodically.
This one, Nick said, was unlike any other he’d seen.
Jacob was in the kitchen, his mouth filled with crackers when the seizure began.
Nick, busy on a computer in the adjoining room, heard a thump and rattling in the kitchen.
He rushed in and found Jacob unresponsive, lying on the floor, his head between two cabinets.
“His whole body was shaking,” Nick said. “His face was getting very dark so I knew it was very serious.”
Nick dialed 911 and the call was dispatched to the Rockfish Fire Department, where Stoudt, 41, worked as a volunteer.
In less than a minute, Nick heard the doorbell ring and a knock at the front door.
He answered and found Stoudt, wearing a red fleece vest and pajama pants, with his arm midair ready to knock again.
Stoudt said he heard the call on his emergency radio and, realizing it was so close, jumped in his pickup.
“He said, ‘You’ve got a choking kid?’” Nick said.
As soon as Stoudt walked into the kitchen, he recognized the severity of the situation.
He turned Jacob, who wasn’t breathing, on his side and cleared his mouth and airway of crackers.
Rolling Jacob over, Stoudt heard the loud belching as trapped air was freed from the teen’s lungs, and then his gasps for breath.
Stoudt held Jacob in his arms until paramedics and an ambulance arrived.
Stoudt saw symptoms similar to what his sister, an epileptic, has experienced and suspected Jacob had suffered an epileptic seizure.
Shortly afterward, Jacob had another bad seizure. Stoudt’s suspicion was right.
“I was really hoping Greg was wrong,” Garcia said, “but after the second seizure, I realized Greg was absolutely right.”
The incident prompted Garcia to become a volunteer at the Rockfish department.
“The chief (Todd Wood) was real patient with me, because I was dumb as a stump,” Garcia said.
Garcia said he also thanked Stoudt with soft drinks since he was still working for the distribution company. But the pull toward a career as a firefighter was strong.
“I’m at work and I’d see them in the store and I’d think I’d rather be over at the fire station,” Garcia said.
He discussed it with his wife, who encouraged him to apply. A year later, he got the phone call.
“They called me and I’m like, ‘Really? I’m 47,’” Garcia said, laughing.
Age didn’t deter him. He kept up with his younger classmates in all aspects of training, including the tough physical fitness aspect.
“They called me Father Time,” Garcia said. “Everybody said I was the world’s oldest rookie.”
The bond between Stoudt, who’s now doing welding work in North Dakota, has not weakened.
Just before leaving Station 9 on Friday morning, Stoudt handed Garcia a $20 bill and told him to take Jacob and Nick, now a dean’s list engineering student at East Carolina University, to McDonald’s for breakfast.
Jacob responded by hugging Stoudt. So did Nick and his father, thankful for much more than a career-changing inspiration.
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©2014 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.)