'It makes all of us feel whole again': Heart attack patients reconnect with their paramedics at Survivor Day

It was Mother's Day Sunday last year when Gary Hackney first felt a pain in his chest. When it kept getting worse, Hackney knew something was deeply wrong. 

"[My wife] Nancy got up, gave me two aspirin and called 911," said Hackney. 

The next thing he knew, he was on the floor—and everything went black. 

All the while, Nancy Hackney was very much awake, and anxiously wondering what to do next. When she heard sirens coming in the distance, she said it was 'a tremendous relief.'

"I remember clearly these women walking into our home, and a sense of peace that they had arrived," she said. 

The women who arrived to save Hackney were paramedics Lindsay Paton and Meagan Slack.

Just over a year after Paton and Slack first walked into the Hackneys' home, the four finally had a chance to make proper introductions at the Middlesex London Paramedic Service's annual 'Survivor Day,' which puts heart attack survivors in the same room as the dispatchers and first responders who saved them.

Overall, the paramedic service said it made a total of 45 cardiac arrest saves in 2017. 

I'd never had anyone apologize for dying before, so it was kind of a nice moment.- Meagan Slack, Middlesex London Paramedic Service

Although the day of the heart attack is clearly etched in the Hackneys' memories, Slack and Paton say the day stood out to them as well. As she first walked into the room, Paton said she was immediately struck by the gravity of the situation. 

"I remember walking into that space and recognizing there was something going on that was very serious," she said. "We rely on our training and we kinda sprung into action the way we know how and the way we trust we know how."

Also memorable was how Hackney responded to his brush with death. Slack said she distinctly remembers Hackney as the 'politest' patient she'd ever resuscitated.

"Just after I defibrillated him, he woke up, he apologized to me and said 'I'm so sorry, I think I passed out for a second,'" said Slack. 

"I'd never had anyone apologize for dying before, so it was kind of a nice moment."

Hackney wasn't out of the woods yet: About a week after the heart attack, he wound up in hospital again with a stroke. That time, Nancy drove him.

But with treatment, time and strict adherence to a diet and exercise regimen—Hackney says he walks a vigorous two miles every day—Hackney is down 40 pounds and feeling much better.

When he met his paramedics Friday afternoon, Hackney thanked them. 

"They saved my life, they really did," said Hackney. 

"The doctors said in 20 minutes I had 100 per cent blockage, and I had 20 minutes from the time of the heart attack to the time it took to get to hospital. They did a fabulous job."

Overall, Hackney said the day was a 'marvelous' thing—although he still hopes to never go back. 

Knowing that it made a difference, it makes going onto that next call a little bit easier.- Lindsay Paton, Middlesex-London Paramedic Service

For Slack and Paton, responding to a serious call means they're often left wondering what happened in the end. Seeing a former patient alive and well means getting those answers. 

"It's just nice to see him standing up," said Slack. "To be able to fill in the gaps and just close that loop up."

Paton said meeting survivors like Hackney makes her feel whole again. 

"We see so much terrible things in the field, so when we get to meet people like [Gary and Nancy], knowing that it made a difference, it makes going onto that next call a little bit easier."