Michigan-Ohio State game turns into medical emergency for Ohio photographer
(CBS DETROIT) - After last month's Michigan-Ohio State football game, an Ohio photographer is thanking the Wolverines for saving his life after he suffered a heart attack.
"I mean, if I'm going to die, it's going to be some other way. It wasn't going to be a heart attack. I'm in pretty good shape. I work out a lot," said photographer Aaron Josefczyk.
Josefczyk has been a professional photographer for over three decades. The Ohio resident also captures photos for Ohio State's football team. The rivalry game in November was no different.
Once the game concluded, he began having issues with his chest.
"You know where the players go up that hill - it's a decent incline - and I was dying walking up that thing," Josefczyk said. "Like literally, I found out. It just took my breath getting up there. And it was a moment I was, 'Like man, I'm not going to make it up here.'"
After cooling off, Josefczyk alerted a security guard who called for help. He says within minutes, paramedics were there, taking him to the stadium's medical facility.
"You could tell by their intensity like they weren't just messing around. They were getting to it," he said.
Afterward, he was transported to University of Michigan Health. It's there that doctors performed a cardiac catheterization.
Josefczyk is an OSU grad and wore an undershirt that represented his alma mater.
While the doctors were in the room, he would've never expected what one said.
"That doctor leaned down and said, 'I got your back.' That was cool. I read she's like a 2020 grad from Ohio State," Josefczyk said.
After three nights in the hospital, he was back home. With a usual fast-paced life, he's forced to take it easy and recover.
"I had a little bit of anxiety. You feel safe at home because you are home. I've tried to drive one day and kind of freaked out and came home," Josefczyk said.
Josefczyk believes he was in the right place at the right time.
In two years, the rivalry game returns to the Big House. Josefczyk hopes to go and meet all the quick–thinkers to thank them.
"I told somebody I need a big maize and blue shirt with the "M" and a heart on it…I'll support that around," he said.
