The Texas Department of Public Safety held an award ceremony Friday for the firefighters and paramedics that saved the life of a state trooper on September 8, 2016.
Trooper Ronald Slay was on his way home after completing a physical assessment test at the Killeen DPS office and started to have chest pains.
He then stopped at a Killeen Fire Station for what he thought was a simple heartburn and ended up in an ambulance, heading to the hospital.
Firefighters John MacDonald, Brian Hammes and Clark Channel notified paramedics Mathew Harper and Chris Shelly when they realized Slay needed immediate medical attention. These five heroes acted quickly and saved Slay's life.
Friday, they received the Directors Award for their heroic efforts. Slay says he is just thankful that he decided to walk into their station that day.
"We take a lot of things for granted. It was just a blessing to see the sun, the grass and the trees" Slay said. "I made it a habit when I recovered to go back and talk to those guys and sent flowers and just let to let them know how much I appreciated them. "
Firefighter John MacDonald he says he was a little nervous at the ceremony because of all the high ranking officers in his presence, but it was rewarding to see Mr. Slay living a full life.
"We usually don't get to see what the outcome is. We don't get to cross paths with that patient again, so we kind of don't really know," MacDonald said. "So it's really good to see the outcome and now we have a lifelong friendship with Mr. Slay."
Slay says that these men went above and beyond the call of duty to help save his life and he is forever grateful.
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