MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — Holding a glass heart in his hand, 21-year-old Trevor Harbison can't help but be grateful for what it represents. Last August, someone's life was in the palm of his hand.
Anthony Cadwalader had just finished a tennis match at a private Tobyhanna Township community when his heart stopped.
"I think about it every day, even though it's almost been a year," Harbison said.
Inside the Pocono Mountain Regional EMS building, Harbison and the paramedics and staff at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Pocono were reunited and honored for saving Cadwalader's life on August 20, 2022.
It's a day Cadwalader doesn't remember much.
"I was just talking and apparently said to my partner that I didn't feel well, but I don't remember that part and just fell over."
But those who saved his life remember.
Harbison was organizing softball games for members of the private community next to the tennis courts when someone ran over, calling for help. He says being in the right place at the right time with the right training is the reason Cadwalader came back to life after his heart stopped for two minutes.
"That's where I'm really just so thankful for my training because it all came back to me like muscle memory. It was just immediate. It almost felt like I was back in the drills, and I wasn't really even thinking it was just muscle memory the whole time," Harbison said.
Harbison had been a lifeguard for a few years, so he had lifesaving training under his belt. But he never thought he would actually use it, let alone save someone's life.
"I just feel so much gratitude whenever I see Tony, just kind of thinking about what could have gone wrong on that day, and feel so happy that it didn't go wrong and that everything went well and that the doctors at the hospital were able to give him the treatment that he needed and he's healthy again."
Cadwalader was taken to LVH–Pocono, where doctors cleared the blockage and installed a stent to save his life.
"I'm grateful to have a new lease on life every day. So, I think about it every day, but at the same time, part of living life is living life and not waiting on the past," Cadwalader said.
Harbison and Cadwalader already knew each other before this incident, but now they say they'll be connected with this heart bond.
See more Healthwatch 16 stories on YouTube.