New Emergency Procedure Brings Edmond Man Back From The Dead

An Edmond man was reunited with the emergency crew members who brought him back from the dead. He wanted to say thanks, but the crew credits a new procedure. They say he wouldn’t be here without it.

When Edmond firefighters and EMSA paramedics pulled up to Brian Rhode’s home four months ago, he was unresponsive.

Wednesday, those same first responders walked back through that front door.

“It’s good to see him standing upright,” said one of the firefighters.

The first time Brian was lying on his foyer floor after a freak accident.

“I’m in here just opening an Amazon box and it was a big box. And next thing I know, I fall and hit my head, and I’m dead,” explained Brian.

Brian’s son called 911 and performed CPR until Edmond firefighters arrived and used their defibrillator to try and bring Brian back to life.  

“The first six minutes he got a total of three shocks and none of those shocks worked,” said Tyler Smith, an Edmond firefighter who was one of those first on the scene.

By that time, EMSA paramedics were also on scene so they were able to use both defibrillators basically back to back.

“The Hail Mary of the 4^th shock is double sequential,” explained Smith.  

And that brought Brian back from the dead.

“I believe if we did not perform this he would not be here talking to us,” said EMSA paramedic Jeremy Baker.

Emergency crews have been using the procedure for less than a year.

Baker said it's the second time he's tried it and the first time it's worked.

“We gave this man more time with his family, and that’s what means the most to me,” said Baker.

And Brian, who was a paramedic for 24 years, knows that feeling from both sides.