Quincy Man Throws First Pitch Year After Suffering Heart Attack At Fenway
BOSTON (CBS) – The Red Sox may be wrapping up the final weeks of the season at the bottom of the American League East standings. But before the team took on the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday they helped one fan celebrate a major victory at Fenway Park.
Prior to Wednesday's game, Quincy Red Sox fan Joe Brill threw out the first pitch one year after he was considered clinically dead for 30 minutes, suffering a heart attack inside the ballpark.
Brill was met by Fenway medical staff on Wednesday as he headed towards the mound, the same people who helped revive him when he went into cardiac arrest.
"It's the greatest day of my life," Brill told WBZ-TV's Ken MacLeod.
"I must have died and gone to heaven."
Last September, Brill was sitting in his regular seat as the Red Sox prepared to take on the rival Yankees. But before the game started, friends found Brill slumped over in his seat.
Fans dragged him into the aisle, and Fenway paramedics began reviving him.
"He was clinically dead,"said EMT Dave Stewart.
"I mean, he was in cardiac arrest, his heart was not beating. He was not breathing on his own, so we were doing everything for him."
One of the paramedics who helped save Brill issued a lighthearted apology on Wednesday for another injury he caused while performing CPR.
"I apologized that I had to break some of his ribs," said EMT Darryl Sencabaugh. "But I'd rather break ribs than the other outcome."
A longtime Red Sox fan, Brill said Wednesday's first pitch was the thrill of a lifetime, one made possible by the EMTs who were on scene that September day at Fenway Park.
"I can't thank them enough," said Brill.
"I must have died and gone to heaven."
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