KAILUA-KONA — You could say it was a first birthday for Larry McCabe.
A house full of friends and a wife bustling around to make everyone comfortable helped remind the Kailua-Kona man of what he’d learned about the things that are important during his minute-and-a-half trip to the other side.
“It sure ain’t stuff,” McCabe said at his 66th birthday on Saturday. “It’s my wife, and all these people here.”
Forty-two days ago, McCabe was on a one-way ticket out, flying comfortably away from all his problems, the stress of his job as a financial planner, life itself. The relief was just tremendous.
Then a flashlight was in his eyes and Hawaii County firefighters were staring into his face and calling him back to wakefulness. His heart restarted, and he realized it wasn’t over yet.
Initially, he wasn’t happy.
But the pain of being back in an imperfect world is wearing off. These days, said his wife Wanee, they’re both living every day like it matters.
“I wasn’t sure I’d get him back, or that he would be normal,” she said. “We feel very blessed.”
Saturday around noon, he stood on the steps of his home on Tomi Tomi Drive and tried to thank a half dozen emergency personnel for saving his life.
“Sorry we had to cut your T-shirt,” medic Shawn Watson said. “We’re glad you called when you did.”
“How long was I down?”
“A minute to a minute and a half.”
“People don’t realize what you guys do.”
McCabe’s friend, Tom Bailey, will help him through a part of recovery that the doctors say is non-negotiable — exercise. Bailey will start him out with light weights and upper body workouts.
“ — Make sure he’s eating right, talk to him about stress,” Bailey said. “Larry woke up the other morning not having a clue he’d die that day and come back. If we keep that in mind we know how important it is to be right with God and with people.”
McCabe had his first heart attack 12 years ago; it wasn’t a major one. This time, he’d been feeling funny for about a week. He was getting ready to go shopping at Costco when he got up and found himself out of breath.
He thought: I have no time for this.
Medics Shawn Watson and Mike Judd described arriving on scene at McCabe’s house and finding the man sitting down, reaching for his wallet and trying to answer questions. Then he collapsed.
The team began chest compressions, hooked McCabe up to a bag valve mask and finally shocked him with an automated external defibrillator. Initially, he didn’t respond. Then the jolt brought McCabe back.
He woke complaining about his shirt, which the medics had cut from his body so they could do their work.
“It was awesome,” Watson said. “It’s really nice when you see that.”
The takeaway is a simple but powerful one. Having an AED installed and knowing how to use it means ordinary people can save lives like McCabe’s, Judd said.
The firefighters accepted a plaque at McCabe’s birthday party with a simple inscription of thanks.
“I had no idea what these men do is so important,” Wanee McCabe said.