By Marian Accardi
The Decatur Daily
HARTSELLE, Ala. — A Hartselle man is convinced the quick action and care of passersby last week on an Interstate 65 exit ramp saved his life after he had a heart attack.
Surviving the ordeal was “a big Christmas present,” said John Smyth. “This has been a real blessing. It’s amazing how God had a hand in it all the way through. It was nothing short of a miracle.”
John and Denise Smyth left their home in Hartselle on Tuesday morning, heading to Louisville, Kentucky, for a post-Christmas visit with their daughters, Jaime Hatcher and Jodie Davis, and their families.
Smyth, who was driving, started feeling numbness in his forearms and hands around the time the Smyths passed the Interstate 565 exit.
“I pulled off at the top of the Elkmont exit because I had a tightness in my chest,” Smyth said. “I thought I would just walk it off in case it was indigestion.”
Denise Smyth was concerned when she noticed her husband was sweating and his complexion was grayish. She first called 911, then her daughter in Louisville and her best friend in Hartselle, asking them to pray for Smyth and request prayers from other people.
“I felt like I had an elephant on my chest,” Smyth said. “It had escalated from numbness to a full-blown heart attack 20 minutes later.”
The ramp had been deserted but a motorist soon stopped to help, even offering his own nitroglycerin, Denise Smyth said, and Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely also stopped to help out and called to check on the status of the ambulance’s arrival. Smyth said a woman, who said she was a cardiac nurse at Huntsville Hospital, jumped out of her car when she heard what had happened. She loosened Smyth’s collar, checked his vital signs and had him quickly chew and swallow some aspirin that Blakely provided.
“Within a couple of minutes, it had helped with the pain,” said Smyth, 62, a contract administration specialist with Aerojet Rocketdyne in Huntsville, who had retired from United Launch Alliance.
“I’m convinced their quick action and care saved my life as it temporarily reduced the pressure in my chest until the paramedics arrived a little later,” Smyth recounted in a social media post. In that post, he thanked all of those who helped care for him, his family and friends, “and for a real God whose timing is impeccable and who evidently isn’t through with me yet.”
Smyth was taken to Huntsville Hospital, where two stents were inserted into blocked arteries Tuesday afternoon. The next day, the Smyths and their daughters and families, who had arrived from Louisville and Wisconsin, ended up celebrating Christmas in Smyth’s hospital room.
“We took pictures and opened presents,” said Smyth. “It was different than we imagined, but it was very special.”
Smyth was discharged from the hospital and returned home Thursday. The Smyths will have another celebration — their 36th wedding anniversary — Tuesday.
Denise Smyth, a teacher for special-needs preschoolers at Crestline Elementary School in Hartselle, also called her husband’s survival a miracle.
“God put angels in our path,” she said. “From the moment we asked for prayers, I feel like God intervened.”
The Smyths regret not seeing the nurse again after trying to reach her at the hospital.
“I will always be grateful to her,” Denise Smyth said.
Copyright 2017 The Decatur Daily