When a nasty snow storm struck the town of Arvada, Colorado, Heather Driscoll was tasked with shoveling the long sidewalk around her house, from the street to her front door.
The last thing she expected to deal with was a medical emergency, outside in the middle of the storm.
While she was shoveling in the cold, Heather realized her SVT was flaring up. Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is an abnormally fast heartbeat. She has dealt with the condition for decades and it usually doesn’t cause her issues. But on this particular day, she measured her heart rate at 230 beats per minute; a normal heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute.
Heather dropped the shovel and hurried back inside. She could tell her heart wasn’t about to slow down any time soon.
The Arvada Fire Department arrived to her home and helped restore her heart to a normal pace.
Heather thanked them for coming by so quickly and helping her through her medical crisis. She saw them out and figured that was that.
But as firefighter Ryan Weir walked outside, he could tell that Heather had been shoveling her sidewalk and wasn’t able to finish… and he was caught going above and beyond the call of duty.