Sandy Hook Man Thanks First Responders For An Extraordinary Gift: His Life

By Shannon Hicks

“Thank you for saving my life.”

Jacques Lombardo walked into the meeting room of Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue Co.’s main station Monday night, and quietly said that to the first responders who were in the room that evening. Many of them had played a part in saving Mr Lombardo’s life five weeks earlier.

Mr Lombardo cannot remember the medical emergency that almost took his life. He flatlined three times on November 1, and this was after he was transported to Danbury Hospital after suffering a heart attack at his Riverside Road home. He also does not remember the first ten days of his hospital stay, when he was in a medically induced coma.

His first memory of the event was waking up on November 11 and seeing one of his sons, Phillip, and his brother, Giuseppe, as he lay in his hospital bed.

“I remember looking at them and thinking ‘Why are they here? What happened?’” Mr Lombardo told The Bee Monday night, after he and his family met with the first responders who are being credited in large part with saving the Sandy Hook resident’s life.

Mr Lombardo was joined by his wife Freya, son Phil and daughter Valentina at the firehouse for a brief ceremony where the Sandy Hook firefighters and Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps (NVAC) members who were on that call last month were presented with pins the honored their use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in saving Mr Lombardo’s life. The pins are about one inch in diameter, with a white background and a red heart in the center. Within the heart are the words, in gold, CPR Save.

Kris Peterson, who recently stepped into the role of NVAC chief, presented the pins Monday evening. She gave the first one to Mr Lombardo.

“We would be honored if you would wear this,” she said.

Ken Lerman, who was NVAC chief at the time of the incident, and Bob Virgalla each received a pin. NVAC member Josh Barrows, who was unable to attend Monday’s gathering, will also be presented with one, as will paramedic Jason Ucci.

Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue Co. members who received pins were Chief Bill Halstead, Anthony Carpenter, Anthony Capozziello, Stephen Clark, Brian Engelke, Karin Halstead (“Our first first responder,” Ms Peterson said when handing Ms Halstead her pin), Al Lescrynski, George Lockwood, Jr, Richard Paloian, Robert Sibley, Karl Sieling, and Steven Stohl.

According to Mr Lerman, the ambulance corps arranged for the pins to be given out.

Three days after a very early winter storm hit the region, the Lombardos, like most residents, were still without electricity. Mr Lombardo had gone outside, his wife said Monday night, to start a generator to warm up the house.

“He came inside with chest pain, and said he was going to call 911, but I don’t know, I guess he decided he was okay,” she said. “He said ‘No, I can wait.’”

A few minutes later Mrs Lombardo saw that her husband’s pain was far more serious than he had admitted to, and this time she picked up the phone to call for help. Jacques (“Jack” to family and friends) they later learned, was having, a massive heart attack.

Sandy Hook firefighters were at the Lombardo residence, which is just under half a mile from their main station, in minutes.

“It took just a few minutes and they were here, and then people from the ambulance were here right behind them,” said Phil Lombardo. “Karin [Halstead, the Sandy Hook EMS captain] was the first one here, and she helped get my father out of his chair down to the floor.

“Everyone just started taking care of him,” the younger Mr Lombardo added. “It was such a fluid set of responses.”

According to Ken Lerman, Mr Lombardo responded quickly to the CPR.

“He came back real quickly. His heart came back, he was breathing on his own pretty quickly,” said Mr Lerman.

Within 90 minutes of arriving at Danbury Hospital, Mr Lombardo was in its cardiac catheterization laboratory, which offers specialized diagnostic procedures for patients with symptoms and blockages of moderate severity. Mr Lombardo, whose heart stopped a total of three times before surgeons could operate on him, had three full blockages removed and three stents put in.

Jack Lombardo was kept in a medically induced coma for the next ten days. During that time he contracted pneumonia, and his medical team also worked to stop a blood clot that had developed from creating further complications.

“He was so weak, they didn’t want his heart going through any more stress than it had to,” said Phil Lombardo. “The doctors [told us they] thought ten days of being induced was long enough to let his heart strengthen up before he was awake.”

 “My father was in very bad shape, and the doctors kept cautioning us every day about things they were watching,” Phil said. “Every obstacle he faced, he killed it.”

Mr Lombardo spent 27 days in the hospital. He missed being home for Thanksgiving, but had his first solid food the night before. He dined on mashed potatoes, butter squash, soup, and yogurt.

“It was all soft food, and it felt great,” he said with a laugh.

The medical emergency came as a complete surprise to Mr Lombardo, who had been told as recently as two months ago that his heart was in very good shape. He had a full physical, he said, two years ago and during a check-up with his primary physician, “my doctor said, ‘Wow, you have a great heart,’” Mr Lombardo said.

Jack Lombardo does not remember the heart attacks, nor even the storm a few days before them. His family, however, will long remember the men and women who responded to their call for help.

“The medic, Jason, he came back to the hospital the next day to see how my father was doing,” said Phil Lombardo. “Karin, Anthony, Archie, all these folks from Sandy Hook, they kept stopping by the house or calling us to see how he was doing. It floored us. It just floored us.”

 “I’m feeling better every day,” Jack Lombardo told the first responders on Monday night. “Thank you for what you did.”