CARBON COUNTY, Pa. — With his grandkids and family by his side at Lehigh Valley Hospital Carbon, Timothy Teel of Towamensing Township reunited with the medical team that saved his life, "I feel like a million dollars, I really do," he said.
But back in May, Teel says he wasn't feeling like a million dollars. He had a normal day at work, but later that night, he started to feel off.
"It wasn't the feeling of an elephant sitting on your chest or all the classic things you hear about. It felt like I was having this back pain and front pain that just made me not comfortable. I couldn't sit up, and I couldn't lay down," said Teel.
His wife rushed him to the emergency room eight miles from their home. He says the pain got so intense he told her to run the red lights to get there.
Teel's doctors say he suffered a heart attack known as the 'widow-maker.'
"In his situation, he had a 100% blockage in the major artery of the heart, but it was also complicated by the fact that his heart stopped and the electrical l system stopped," explained Dr. Shailendra Singh, Associate Director of Interventional Cardiology.
In the emergency room, his heart stopped twice.
Teel was then flown to Lehigh Valley Cedar Crest, where doctors say his heart function was at 20%.
Looking back now, Teel says he knew time was of the essence, "I had less than 10 minutes left before I seized. So had I seized along the road or in the car that would have been it, I don't think they would have been able to get me back."
His medical team of emergency room nurses, doctors, med-evac paramedics all happy to see him getting back to his family and the activities he loves.
"To see him make a full recovery so quickly with not only his heart function but also his quality of life is completely back to normal," said Dr. Singh.
Teel says that 35 years ago, his uncle on his dad's side of the family died from the same kind of heart attack.
Teel is now on medication to prevent his platelets from binding together and clotting. He is also attending cardiac rehab through LVHN.