East Texan reunites with first responders who saved him when heart stopped at gym

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - It’s been sixteen weeks since Scott Gillispie went into cardiac arrest at an East Texas gym. Members of the Longview Fire Department performed life-saving measures. Wednesday night they reunited for the first time since that day.

It was a normal day back in November at Crunch Fitness. Gillispie came to take his regular spin class. He deals with constant sinus drainage when spinning. so he moved his bike forward to avoid other classmates. But then, something felt off.

“Twenty minutes in the class I started coughing, sinus drain, I choked, shut off the oxygen to my brain. My heart stopped. I grabbed the bicycle they said and fell over to my right. Thank God I moved that bike up so I didn’t hit the lady to my right. I could’ve injured her and I could’ve probably broke my neck,” said Gillispie.

First responders arrived and performed life-saving care. They detected a pulse when they got to the hospital.

Firefighter paramedic for Longview Fire Dept., Willis Kornman, says, “This almost never happens. He is the one percent of this outcome. Even though we give the same level of care and the same high level of care to everyone that we meet, or that is in this situation, not everyone makes it all the time, and so just to see him standing and talking here is a miracle in and of itself.”

“It’s a testament to God for giving me a second chance, a rebirth. And it’s a testament to these men for being able to give me a second chance of rebirth,” said Gillispie.

A pacemaker and a defibrillator were put into his chest after the incident. After three months, he’s here today, happy and healthy.

“I’m a miracle. I’ve won the game of life.”

Gillispie says he isn’t fully recovered but is taking it one day at a time. He hopes to get back to the gym in the next few months.

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