Wake Forest EMT honored for saving man from cardiac arrest

Emergency responders were honored Wednesday in Garner for their work risking everything to help others.

Many people received recognition for their heroic work and service to their communities, including April Wiseman, an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) who was off duty but ended up saving a life. 

Steve Dale got to say "thank you" to Wiseman, an EMT from Wake Forest, at an honors breakfast in Garner.

"It was humbling to meet her," Dale said. "What do you say to somebody that saved your life other than 'thank you?' And thank you seems so insignificant."

"I feel like I've been adopted by their family a little bit," Wiseman said. "There's not much that's more rewarding."

As Dale says, Wiseman may look small, but she had enough strength to use CPR to break his ribs, which saved his life. 

"She's a person that any father would be proud to claim as their daughter," he said. "I have two adult daughters, but now I have a third."

Dale was driving when he went into cardiac arrest in March, and Wiseman watched his car go off the road.

"It caught me off guard at first because it was like, 'Oh, it's my day off,'" Wiseman said. "This is probably just something small, and then it wasn't."

Doctors told Dale he would have died if Wiseman wasn't there to care for him and perform CPR while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

"I'd like to think that I represented a lot of the people that the heroes, the first responders, who are here, whose lives they touch, but they really just never get a thank you," Dale said. "I wanted to make sure that I thank as many people as I could."