4 Hours at Church Saves Father's Life

HOUSTON - Joaquin Alfaro is a quiet man. As his wife, son, and daughter-in-law chatted happily about their plans for Easter Sunday, Alfaro stared at a muted television screen but a slight smile never left his lips.

Last month, March 24 to be exact, the 69-year-old suffered a heart attack. After a working a 12-hour shift, Alfaro went home, skipped dinner, and started working on his yard.

"I saw him out there working, moving the shovel and wheelbarrel," said his son Jay Alfaro. "So I went out there to help. As we were throwing dirt in the wheelbarrel, the wheelbarrel tipped over. He tried to grab it and catch it. As he tried, he slipped (and) fell in the ditch."

Doctors confirm it was a heart attack, but as luck would have it, Jay Alfaro had just sat in on a 4-hour long CPR training session at church.

"I immediately started applying CPR and he still wouldn't respond, and I'm yelling at my wife. Am I doing it right? Am I doing it right?"

Since the heart attack, several doctors, nurses and specialists at Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital have worked to get the elder Alfaro back to health, but even they are quick to point out who saved this man's life.

"Primarily he's probably number one in the whole team because if he didn't do it, (his dad) wouldn’t have made it to the emergency room," said Dr. Humayun Mirza of Jay Alfaro's impromptu CPR performance. "It is so important to know CPR, and not only know CPR, but have your wits about you to be able to do it when the situation arises. And secondly, to do it to your dad when the situation arises."

"I wish I could say I was poised, controlled and secure," Jay Alfaro said. "I wasn't. I was screaming. I was crying, but I was applying what I thought I knew from the training and went with it. I had to do something. I (couldn't) just let him lie there."

"Most people would've passed away," said Dr. Ovidiu Moise, referring to the elder Alfaro's condition.

Doctors Mirza and Moise were part of a team that performed a new minimally-invasive coronary artery bypass procedure on Alfaro. Instead of traditional open heart surgery, which would've involved cracking open Alfaro's chest, the doctors made a small incision on his side which cut down on recovery time.

"Him going home the second day after heart surgery is pretty amazing," said Dr. Moise. "He could not have done it without his son."

The family now plans to be home in time to attend an Easter church service, which explains all the happy chatter that fills Alfaro's hospital room.

It makes sense. After all, church is where Jay Alfaro learned CPR. As it turned out, that 4-hour course gave the family a lot more time with the husband and father they love.

"He's one of our head deacons," Jay Alfaro said. "(He) helps us out. He's been there for over thirty years so they're waiting his arrival, and we're excited he's here now. It's a miracle. The doctors told us it was a miracle, and we thank the doctors, the hospital, and all the nurses. They've been part of the formation of the miracle."