OVIEDO, Fla. – A Port St. Lucie man is alive today thanks to the quick actions of an Oviedo police officer who used an AED and CPR to bring him back from a heart attack — and the two reunited Wednesday for the first time since that life-saving moment.
Doug Black and his girlfriend, Kathy Joy Saunders, were in the parking lot of First United Methodist Church in Oviedo on April 26 when Black suffered a heart attack. He had arrived intending to attend the 9:30 a.m. service but wasn’t feeling well. He told Saunders to go inside without him, but she refused to leave.
“She stayed with me the entire time and helped me get through this,” Black said.
As Black’s condition worsened, Saunders spotted Officer Chris St. John — who was working an extra-duty assignment at the church — and ran to his car. St. John immediately retrieved his department-issued AED, rushed to Black’s vehicle and got to work.
“I hooked up the AED to Mr. Black and activated it,” St. John said. “The AED gave me one shock, and then I performed CPR. After the one shock from the AED, I performed three sets of chest compressions — and then Mr. Black was revived.”
Black believes he was unconscious for five or six minutes. Body camera video captured the entire rescue. When Oviedo firefighters arrived on scene, Black walked from the car to the ambulance on his own — something St. John said he had never seen before. Black was then transported to a hospital in Sanford.
“You just don’t know if you have a blockage. Unfortunately, mine was what they call the ‘widowmaker,’” Black said. “That artery carries 50% of the blood to your heart, and as my cardiologist was doing the procedure, he showed me that 90% of that artery was blocked.”
“If these gentlemen had not showed up and performed what they know how to do best, I wouldn’t be here right now,” he added.
Black has since made a full recovery. He said he met with his cardiologist the day before Wednesday’s reunion and received a strong report.
“I feel great,” Black said. “I got a new lease on life.”
For Saunders, the sequence of events that led to Black’s survival felt like more than coincidence. The couple had driven from Port St. Lucie to Oviedo to visit Saunders’ daughter and granddaughter. They happened to park directly in front of the church entrance — right next to where St. John was stationed.
“We believe there are no coincidental coincidences,” Saunders said. “The fact that there was an empty spot right in front of the church — that was unusual. And for us to be parked right in front of the officer who was hired by the church to be there was a miracle.”
St. John credited the Oviedo Police Department’s training program for preparing him to act quickly and effectively under pressure.
“It’s all based on training,” St. John said. “Our training department here is phenomenal. They put us through a lot of high-stress situations and how to act during them. So, when something like that happens, you’re already ready for the moment.”
For St. John, Wednesday’s reunion carried deep personal meaning.
“I actually got the chills,” St. John said. “When you do this job and you do this, you don’t know if you’re going to get a call. You don’t know if you’re ever going to get an update, and it’s fine — that’s our job. But when I heard he wanted us to call and we called him, I heard his voice. It was great. It was unbelievable. It was phenomenal.”
“I’m so happy to see him walk and stand and talking and everything else,” he added.
Black said reaching out to St. John after his recovery was something he felt compelled to do.
“When Kathy drove me home from the hospital, I said to her, I have to get in touch with the gentleman that helped me out and saved my life,” Black said. “You don’t get your life saved too often. This is a very special moment in my life — something that will be with me forever.”
Black closed with a message for anyone who may be putting off a visit to the doctor.
“To those people out there who have any sort of chest pain, pressure, something that just doesn’t feel right — see a physician immediately,” he said. “Go get yourself checked out, because you just never know.”