L.I. Teen Saves Dad After He Suffered Heart Attack
MERRICK, N.Y. (CBS 2) -- A Long Island teen saw her father dying right before her eyes, but what she did next changed the lives of her entire family forever.
"This is the gift of life," Doug Oggery said. "This is my second life."
Basking in the warm embrace of his family, 55-year-old Doug Oggeri, of Merrick, said it's a miracle that he's alive – a miracle he attributes to his 17-year-old daughter, Colleen, reports CBS 2's Scott Rapoport.
"I was given a second life, there's no dought about it. I was dead – I was virtually dead – and I was brought back to life," he said.
Last week, after shoveling snow in his driveway, Doug suffered a heart attack in his home. He'd stopped breathing, and there was no pulse.
"It was heart-wrenching," Colleen said. "It was the worst moment of my life."
Though terrified, Colleen performed CPR on her dying father while waiting for EMTs to arrive, fearing the worst.
"That I was going to lose him, that he wasn't going to be at my graduation, at my prom," she said. "It was horrible."
Quite the contrary – it was heroic.
"She saved his life," Dr. Rajiv Jauuhar said. "Without her doing CPR, I'm convinced he would have probably passed away."
A week later, after receiving an angioplasty to open his blocked arteries, Doug is finally going home. He's alive and well thanks to the doctors who treated him, and his daughter, who's heading off to nursing school in September, who learned CPR three years ago.
"She was able to use a skill she was taught, and it saved my life," Doug said.
Doug Oggeri has a history of heart trouble in his family. Doctors stress that anyone with heart issues should avoid shoveling snow.
