Responders Help Revive Chef at Florida Atlantic University

BOCA RATON, Fla. --

A Florida Atlantic University chef is thanking members of the Boca Raton fire rescue who saved his life back in August.

Marty Ball said he was at work on FAU's campus when he went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing.

"Toward the end of my shift, I was making my rounds saying goodbye to everybody and fell dead on the ground," Ball said.

Responding paramedics, including crew from the fire rescue, immediately initiated life support techniques to revive the fallen chef.

"(In) my 13 years, (Ball was) the first guy that ever talked to me on the stretcher saying he is alright," said Ryan Cihowika of the Fire Rescue team. "We shocked him once and after we shocked him, I noticed he took a big deep breath (and) thought we got something here."

Several months later, Ball said he and his wife, Jackie, are thankful that he got another shot at life with the help of the fire rescuers.

"She is very happy. I'm very happy to still be here with her. I feel very fortunate there were so many good people able to help me," Ball said.

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