Sudden Urge For A Slurpee Helps Save Man's Life
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - A man had a heart attack behind the wheel, passed out and crashed into a suburban drug store Thursday.
But a sudden urge for a sweet treat put a Westchester woman in a position to save the man's life.
A craving for a cherry slurpee hit Christiana Corrado out of the blue. She hasn't had one since her pregnancy three years ago.
"So it's pretty strange to me that all of a sudden on this day at that moment I would decide to go to that particular 7-Eleven to obtain one," Corrado told CBS2's Tony Aiello.
The shop is just a block away from a busy Yorktown Heights intersection, where the man struck a utility pole, sparking a fire, then rolled down a grassy patch and slammed into a CVS drug store.
"The car goes right by my passenger window and I'm following it and I said 'Oh no, that's not good,'" Corrado said.
She saw the driver slumped over, made a U-turn, and rushed to the CVS.
"When I checked for a pulse, I couldn't feel any. And he was cyanotic -- really, really blue," Corrado said.
She knows her stuff: Corrado is a paramedic and EMS instructor. She started CPR chest compressions on the victim.
"Hard, fast, and he went from blue to pale to pink, his eyes started to move, then his eyes opened and he actually started to talk and asked what is going on," she said.
The structural damage to the CVS does not look like much, but it was enough to shut the store until Friday afternoon.
Customers Aiello spoke to about the story were amazed Corrado was nearby, thanks to a craving for a slurpee.
"It's God's hand in our lives," said CVS customer Nan Gollogy.
Corrado told Aiello the moment she saw the driver in the she had been thinking "This day's been a waste." Now she realizes something different.
"You know what, your day wasn't a waste. Look at that. Never know what God has in plan for you," she said.
It proved a cup of good fortune.
