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Bruce and Tiffany Brown decided to get away for a few days late last June. They drove three hours from their home near Tampa, Florida, to Palm Beach, then took a 10-minute ferry to Peanut Island and immediately enjoyed what they came for: snorkeling in the clear blue water.

Back on shore, they went for a walk around the island.

Bruce – a 71-year-old retired CPA and an Army veteran who has Type 2 diabetes – made sure his continuous glucose monitor was secured to his arm.

He and Tiffany strolled along the water’s edge, scouring the sand for shells and watching iguanas pop up on the rocks, when she asked him: “Is your blood sugar OK?”

“I’ll check,” Bruce said. That’s when he realized he left his phone, which collects the monitor’s data, at their beach spot.

Bruce walked back to their beach chairs while Tiffany continued in the water. Strangely enough, she soon heard Bruce snoring. She saw him in the chair with his head tilted back.

When she got to him, Tiffany put a hand on his shoulder but couldn’t wake him. His lips were white. She suspected his blood sugar had plummeted, sending him into a diabetic coma. She screamed for help and fumbled with a bottle of soda they’d brought with them just in case something like this happened.

As Tiffany tried to get Bruce to drink, a woman sitting beside them – Catherine Valente – called 911. She told Tiffany that her husband was a doctor. Catherine then yelled out to her kids, who were playing in the sand: “Get Dad right now, he’s on the pier!”

Seconds later, another stranger – Matt Taylor, a Navy veteran – arrived to help. He checked to see if Bruce was responsive. After not getting a response, Matt eased Bruce from the chair, laid him on the sand and started CPR.

Jenny Pfieffer, a nurse, sprinted over, too. By then, Catherine’s husband had arrived. Vinnie Valente wasn’t just a doctor; he’s a doctor of osteopathic medicine who specializes in emergency medicine. He sent his daughter to find an automated external defibrillator, or AED. She found one in the women’s bathroom.

Matt, Jenny and Vinnie took turns performing CPR. At one point, a mint popped out of Bruce’s mouth; he likely started sucking it because he thought his blood sugar was low.

The chest compressions lasted for roughly a half hour, maybe longer. Three times, the AED delivered shocks to try restarting his heart without success.

“Stay with us,” Tiffany kept telling Bruce.

Jenny asked for prayers. Another bystander – Lindsay Ferrell, a pastor’s daughter – did so with Jenny.

The rescue attempt took so long because it was difficult for paramedics to reach the small island.

An air ambulance couldn’t land there safely. Neither the U.S. Coast Guard nor the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office had boats available. So, paramedics were forced to take a water taxi. They ran across the sand to reach Bruce.

By the time paramedics arrived at Bruce’s side, a fourth AED shock had restored a weak pulse. Responders lifted him onto the flatbed of an all-terrain vehicle, then they took him to the ferry.

At a Palm Beach hospital, doctors inserted a breathing tube into Bruce as they worked to determine the cause of his cardiac arrest.

He’d indeed had low blood sugar. Maybe that triggered it? During CPR, a mint had popped out of his mouth. Maybe choking caused it?

With so much uncertainty, doctors told Tiffany that Bruce may only have 24 hours to live. She contacted family and friends. Their oldest child, Amy Deforest, began driving in from Oklahoma; their youngest, Haley Turner, booked the first flight home from Scotland. Other family members, including 13 grandkids and 11 great grandkids, and friends started to pray.

Not long after, when Bruce’s sedation medications wore off, he raised his arms into the air. Medical staff told Tiffany not to get her hopes up; the movement may have been involuntary.

But then Tiffany mentioned Haley was coming, Bruce seemed agitated. Tiffany knew he was reacting to the expense of Haley’s last-minute trip from Europe. “I think he’s really hearing me,” she told the nurse.

The next morning, Bruce squeezed Tiffany’s hand. His doctor removed the breathing tube. Despite a scratchy voice and confusion over where he was, Bruce seemed to have come through his ordeal without brain damage.

As he recovered, he hosted visitors: Vinnie, Lindsay and Matt.

Doctors never determined what caused Bruce’s cardiac arrest, although he did test positive for COVID-19 and pneumonia. He also had a history of heart disease: a triple bypass 18 years earlier and a stent a decade before. However, he’d recently had a test to assess blood flow to his heart and everything looked good.

Once clear of COVID-19 and pneumonia, Bruce received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD. It keeps his heart rate steady and delivers a shock to restore his heartbeat if he were to experience another cardiac arrest.

After the procedure, Bruce had Tiffany write on his hospital room’s white board a list of goals. They included going off oxygen support, using the bathroom by himself and going home before July 4.

Bruce left the hospital on July 3. The next day, he and Tiffany watched fireworks in their neighborhood.

Three months after his cardiac arrest, Bruce’s memories of that day on Peanut Island are still hazy. “The neurologist said he may never remember,” Tiffany said.

She’s grateful for Matt, Jenny and Vinnie’s quick thinking and their life-saving CPR.

“Doctors said that at Bruce’s age, people just don’t come out of this,” Tiffany said. “If it wasn’t for the high-quality CPR that kept blood going to his organs, he wouldn’t have made it. Everybody that needed to be there on the beach that day was there.”

Vinnie started a text group chat called “Miracle on Peanut Island” for everyone to keep in touch. In November, Bruce and Tiffany walked in the ·¬ÇÑÊÓƵ’s Heart Walk in Tampa. Aubrey Grey, one of the emergency room nurses who cared for Bruce, joined them.

Bruce, for his part, is channeling his thankfulness for his lifesavers into doing good.

He has started an initiative that provides emotional and financial support to immigrants who come to the U.S. He and Tiffany are also committed to promoting CPR awareness and helping communities access AEDs.

“This second chance at life isn’t just a blessing,” Bruce said. “It’s a calling. A calling to save lives. A calling to ignite change.”

Stories From the Heart chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.