Woman Reunites With Officers Who Saved Her Life
By Walt Hunter
LOWER MERION, Pa., (CBS) -- There were smiles, hugs and tears as a young woman - for the first time - met the two Lower Merion police officers who saved her life weeks ago when she collapsed outside a Penn Valley Wawa store.
Annie and her mother embraced Officers Jeff Sullivan and Rob Whitt at the reunion inside Lower Merion Police Headquarters.
The officers using an AED and CPR restored Annie's heartbeat saving her life.
After a stay in the ICU and surgery, she returned to thank the officers, giving them silver angels as special gifts.
Both officers had just finished refresher training for the AED and CPR that Friday morning when, stopping by the Wawa, they found Annie moments after she fell unconscious to the ground.
Annie says she had no idea she had an often hidden heart problem called "long QT" which, she says, had been misdiagnosed as a neurological problem.
Along with her mother, she urged everyone, especially young athletes to be aware of the heart problem, and to be screened if necessary.
They also urged all schools and businesses to obtain AED's.
On the morning she collapsed, Annie was headed home where she would have been alone when she was stricken, but, at the last moment she and her mom decided to stop at the Wawa.
At the same moment, Officer Sullivan, finding the parking spaces filled at his regular Wawa, stopped by the store on Montgomery Ave.
He pulled up with his AED at almost the exact moment that Annie fell to the ground.
