CPR saves man’s life in Daleville

It was just another day in the Wiregrass Jan. 28, when Tom Knight, 58, began his day like any other. 

He went to work at Army Fleet Support on Fort Rucker. Later, he ran a few laps before his Monday night class at Chung’s Tae Kwon Do in Daleville.

And just as Knight was about to head into his Dojo class — it hit him.

He passed out and hit the floor. 

“I had pushed myself because I was running a bit late,” Knight said. “So I turned that half mile and right about four minutes and 45 seconds, I really pushed myself. I immediately went in there (Chung’s Tae Kwon Do). I bent over to untie my shoe, and I stood up.” 

That is all Knight remembers from that day. He regained consciousness eight days later at Flowers Hospital in Dothan.

Knight had suffered a cardiac arrest. 

Daleville Rescue Squad first responders Lt. Willy Powell, Lt. Jerry Sapp and Lt. Bill Mansfield were dispatched and rushed to the scene.

Meanwhile, as news spread in the building of Knight’s condition, two men began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“I have yet to be able to find out who they are,” Knight said. “I will thank them… I’ve been back twice to try and find out…I will find those people.”

When officers arrived on the scene they found Knight unconscious and without a heartbeat.

Powell, unwilling to grant someone the loss of life, administered three sets of electric shock using an automated external defibrillator.  

Knight’s pulse was successfully re-established. However, that would not be the end of his recovery.  

Knight was immediately transported to Medical Center Enterprise.

By some miracle while in the emergency room, Knight’s physician Dr. William A. Gammill, was also in the ER helping out another patient.

“He wasn’t supposed to be there,” Knight said. “He just came in to help with a patient that he was going to do something with (when) they brought me in the back door, and he took over my care. Actually, he’s the one who saved my life.”

Gammill performed an intubation in the chest. The tube served as an open airway passage to ventilate Knight’s lungs.

Unsure if Knight had any brain damage, Knight was transported to Flowers Hospital in Dothan and placed on a ventilator.

“They kept me completely drugged for the entire time I was on a ventilator,” Knight said. “Every time they tried to bring me up, my heart would do a little funny thing. My blood pressure would go screwy so they had to bring me up really slow. I was on a cooling bed to keep my body temperature down.”

After 12 days, Knight was finally released from Flowers Hospital with no brain damage, but with a little piece he’ll carry with him forever  — an internal defibrillator.

“As it turned out, for some unknown reason, God was with me and I had no brain damage,” he said. “I’ve made a pretty much full recovery, (but) I have an internal defibrillator.”

The internal cardiac defibrillator detects when the heart rate is out of rhythm and will send out a shock to bring the heart rate back to normal.

Knight said the events of that day and the following days while in the hospital remain a blur.

“That whole trip was kind of fuzzy and it took a while for all the drugs to leave my system,” he said. “Really I have no memory. The last thing I remember was (when) I finished running and then waking up in the hospital.”

Knight has made a full recovery and has full mobility of everything. He returned to work and continues to practices at Chung’s Tae Kwon Do four days a week.

“I’m fine,” he said. “I went back for my recheck (and the doctor) said I was good.”

Knight said he has a received a tremendous amount of support from his family and friends.

He was reunited with the Daleville Rescue Squad first responders Powell, Sapp and

Mansfield at the Daleville City Council meeting, March 5, at Daleville City Hall.

Knight was finally able to thank the men who simply would not quit.

“To anybody who ever laid their hands on me from Daleville, Enterprise to Flowers, there is a heartfelt appreciation for everything that was done,” he said. “I obviously received the best possible care that I could receive. There’s no doubt about that.”

Knight said the experience has changed him and has given him a greater appreciation for life. 

“I’m not the same person that I was before this happened,” Knight said. “I have a new appreciation for life…This is my second chance to make amends for the wrongs that I’ve done. I firmly believe at some point there was divine intervention, and it just was not my time to go…(I want) to make sure (now) I am a better father, grandparent and person.”