LACONIA — Following a cardiac arrest that saw him nearly die not just once, but almost a dozen times, Allan Cornelius said he now firmly believes in God and in a personal guardian angel.
A longtime Laconia resident who is a professor of philosophy, Cornelius — since he nearly shook off the mortal coil on July 29 — said he thanks God every day for being alive to enjoy his large family and, on Thursday, he got to formally thank Katherine Stockton, his “guardian angel,” for her role in ensuring that he remained there for that family.
During a ceremony at the Laconia Fire Department’s Central Station, Stockton was the toast of the town, as were the Laconia firefighters and paramedics who, after she called 9-11 and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, continued CPR, defibrillated Cornelius’ heart and got him to a cardiac care facility downstate.
Following a lengthy recuperation period, Cornelius is back in good health, and, at age 69, figures he has at least another 25 years ahead of him.
Cornelius said his experiences — he “flat-lined” ten times in the ambulance taking him from Laconia to Concord Hospital — have convinced him there is a God.
He recalled how, as he approached the light — similar to that which many other near-death survivors report — he felt an unmistakable, divine presence that made it clear to him that it was not yet his time to join the heavenly choir.
While his memory of that moment is clear, Cornelius remains fuzzy on what happened on the last Friday of July — except that he remembers going to Case N’ Keg around 6:45 a.m. to get a newspaper and then waking up to find himself in the hospital.
In between those two events, Stockton — who works at Massachusetts General Hospital as a CAT scan technician — was running along the WOW Trail in Lakeport with the dog of a Laconia friend she was visiting, when she came across Cornelius lying on the popular recreation path that he often used to get to his nearby residence.
“He was blue before I even touched him, I presumed he was dead,” said Stockton, who nonetheless called 9-11 and later touched Cornelius and realized his body was still warm and that he might be saved by CPR.
Certified in CPR since 2005 because it’s a requirement of her job, Stockton had never done the procedure, but did so with Cornelius.
“It seemed like forever,” she said, adding that July 29 was “a shocking day, a terrifying day that from there only got worse” when later she dumped her boyfriend’s motorcycle.
Despite those challenges, Stockton, who is originally from Claremont, but now calls Stoneham, Mass., home, said the day, in retrospect, was a very positive one because she got to meet Cornelius’s family and to appreciate how saving one life “can impact so many people.”
Rae Mello-Andrews, who is a clinical educator with LRGHealthcare and whose lessons include the advanced cardiac skills that helped Laconia paramedics/EMTs keep Cornelius alive, praised Stockton.
The CPR that Stockton administered, she explained, kept Cornelius alive and made his heart receptive to the electrical shocks that the paramedics later gave it with a portable defibrillator.
Cornelius thinks of himself as a very luck man because not only did Stockton help him, but, when she called 9-11, several Laconia firefighters were at a nearby eatery and able to respond quickly to the scene.
Laconia Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Riley, who heads up the department’s Emergency Medical Services division which works in partnership with LRGHealthcare to provide emergency services in the city, said he thought Cornelius was a goner.
When, months later, Cornelius came to the fire station to thank Riley and the other firefighters who treated him on July 29, “I was floored,” Riley admitted, because “this was one gentleman I thought would slip by us.”
Chief Ken Erickson recognized Stockton by presenting her with the Chief’s Award, telling her that “This is one of the greatest achievements you can ever have in your life. Congratulations.” A representative of the American Heart Association then presented Stockton and the responding firefighters with certificates naming them “Heartsaver” heroes.
Laconia City Manager Scott Myers thanked Stockton for “getting involved,” and later Stockton said she would like more people to learn CPR, adding it’s easy to learn. Stockton said several people who were on the WOW Trail when she was giving CPR to Cornelius later expressed dismay and disappointment that because they didn’t know CPR they could only stand by passively.
Cornelius summed up that if it wasn’t for the efforts of Laconia firefighters and of Stockton, “I wouldn’t be here.”
He told Stockton that “you’ll always be my guardian angel,” and she nodded, but not before setting the ground rules for that relationship, telling him “Just don’t do that again.”
* Article From Laconia Citizen
