Neighbors help save life of man suffering sudden cardiac arrest in Myrtle Beach area

Talk about a neighborly good deed.

When Little River resident Bob Pierson suffered sudden cardiac arrest while mowing his lawn last year, neighbors Stacey Eddy and Becky Elmendorf quickly started CPR compressions until emergency responders arrived. He’s alive today thanks to his neighbors’ quick action.

“I couldn’t thank these girls enough,” Pierson’s wife Annie Pierson said of her neighbors.

Eddy and Elmendorf received public thanks Tuesday from Horry County Fire-Rescue.

“It is gratifying to be here to honor two citizens that saved a neighbor,” Horry County Fire-Rescue Chief Joseph Tanner said just prior to a 1 p.m. awards ceremony recognizing the two registered nurses for their life-saving efforts.

“This is something we have to depend on—neighbor helping neighbor. What’s happening here today is truly a benefit for people to see that,” Tanner said.

Tanner presented each of the women an Award of Excellence certificate along with a challenge coin. The coins are typically given to firefighters when they have done something outstanding, Tanner said.

The awards came out of an incident that occurred on a quiet and sunny day in Ashton Acres as residents were out tending their lawns. Elmendorf’s husband, Ken, and some other neighbors were in the road chatting with Pierson when they split up to attend to their various chores.

Pierson began to mow.

It was 3:15 p.m. April 21 and as fate would have it, Eddy was running late to pick up the kids from school and was trying to wrangle her 2-year-old daughter, Bailey, into the car. She had heard Pierson mowing when she suddenly realized the lawnmower had stopped and she saw him lying in the street.

She began yelling his name while racing into her house only to find her cell phone battery was dead. Running as hard as she could while keeping an eye on her daughter, she ran into Pierson’s open garage and yelled for his wife Annie—who was inside cooking--to call 911.

“I passed Bob and I knew he was not breathing,” Eddy said. “I knew I had to start CPR right away.”

While Eddy dropped to her knees in mid-street to begin compressions, another neighbor Marylin Morrison was preparing to meet a couple of children at the school bus stop. She was early, so she sat down on a bench by the pond and that is when she saw Eddy’s toddler in the street and became aware of what was happening. Knowing that Elmendorf works from home, Morrison frantically raced to her front door to get more help before returning to watch over Bailey.

Elmendorf was on a conference call but realized Morrison’s frantic knocking meant something was wrong. She joined Eddy in the street and the two RNs “went into nurse mode.”

“Bailey was asking why Bob was sleeping in the street,” Morrison said. “It was a very scary situation and was just so comforting to know Stacey and Becky were there to help.”

Elmendorf relieved Eddy helping to keep the compressions going until help arrived, which they both said was within minutes because their community is about a mile from the fire station. When paramedic Chris Walden arrived, he took over from the exhausted women and prepared the patient for quick transport with HCFR’s Gary Clemmons and Capt. Dennis Picard adding to the teamwork that helped save Pierson’s life.

Eddy said during the time she worked on him, Pierson had a few gasps and got a little color back in his face but she still did not think he would make it.

“I’ve been at Grand Strand [Medical Center] 16 years and worked in the cardiac unit so I knew every second counts,” she said. Even with advanced cardiac training, Eddy said performing CPR with no equipment and on her knees in the street was very hard.

Pierson, who was stabilized at McLeod Loris Seacoast before being admitted at Grand Strand Medical Center, remembers little about that day or the immediate days after. However, he is none too happy that his doctor’s report states that he died. His wife, Annie, said her husband’s heart stopped twice more on the way to the hospital.

The quiet Army veteran said Tuesday he is doing well and he has lost more than 20 pounds. He has even seen an improvement in his cholesterol levels. Since his health crisis, he has played golf a few times, even walking the 7,080 yards of one of the golf courses—something he humorously said he will not do again.

Brian VanAernem, public information officer with Horry County Fire Rescue, said individuals helping others in the community goes on more often than people realize. “We interact a lot on calls with people caring for other people until medics arrive,” VanAernem said. “They are going above and beyond for each other. It’s not as rough out there as everybody says it is.”

Ashton Acres residents know they are in a community of caring people. They have seen it more than once. A second younger neighbor suffered a life-threatening emergency just before Christmas while working in his lawn. He was assisted by the quick response of a neighbor driving by who saw him fall, called for help and started CPR until help arrived.

“If you can, get training on CPR,” Eddy urged. “As a nurse, I have done CPR at work and saved lives there but you don’t think about needing it at home. Just two hands can save a life and anyone can do it.”

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Neighbors help save life of man suffering sudden cardiac arrest in Myrtle Beach area."