Hero Who Had Heart Attack After Fire Rescue Meets Woman Who Saved His Life

A group of heroic good Samaritans believe it was fate that brought them together for a dramatic double rescue captured on camera. It happened last month in New Hampshire, after Tom Kehoe and Jay Pichardo saved an elderly woman from her burning house. 

“I saw the whole kitchen on fire and as we went out the door, the windows exploded,” Kehoe’s wife told Inside Edition. The couple lives across the street.

Pichardo, who was just driving by, had to kick in the door.

“I grabbed my iPhone, I turned the flashlight on, and I just started crawling on the ground and just started calling for anybody that might have been there. She said, ‘I’m here, I’m here,’ so I just dragged the chair,” Pichardo said. 

It was quite the heroic act, as Kehoe and Pichardo carried the woman out in her easy chair. The soot around the 97-year-old homeowner’s nose showed just how close she came to perishing in the fire. 

But the drama wasn’t over yet.

As soon as the men put the chair down, Kehoe, 67, felt something wasn’t right. 

“I said, ‘I need a minute, give me a minute, folks.’ And that’s it,” Kehoe said. Then, he collapsed to the ground and suffered a massive heart attack.

Lariana Garvis, who was driving home and had been recording the entire thing, sprang into action.

“The next thing I know, [Tom] is down on the ground,” Garvis said.

Luckily, Garvis has a medical background and began CPR while waiting for help to arrive. Kehoe was rushed to the hospital and had an emergency triple bypass surgery on his heart.

All three believe fate brought them together at the right time and place.

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