Valentine's Day is a little sweeter this year for Bob and Laurie Landy, after Laurie kept Bob alive by performing CPR when his heart stopped.
Photograph by: Lisa King , NOW
When Bob and Laurie Landy go out this weekend for their belated Valentine's Day dinner, they'll have something extra special to celebrate.
The Port Moody couple won't just be acknowledging their love of 30 years, but also the fact the two are still on the Earth together - thanks to Laurie's calm lifesaving actions.
It was just two months ago on Dec. 2, when Bob was working away in his home office. Laurie said she heard a strange noise and went to check on her husband.
"I could tell something was wrong," Laurie recalled.
She found Bob leaning back in his chair. His heart had actually stopped working. She called 911.
Laurie had never performed CPR, but she was about to with the help of an ambulance dispatcher.
"You're just kind of going on adrenalin, it's not like you know what's going on or understand anything," she said.
Over the next frantic few minutes, Laurie followed the dispatcher's directions until paramedics arrived.
"You just have to rely on them [paramedics], and they were fantastic," she said. "We were very lucky."
Lucky indeed.
Bob's heart went into what's called fatal arrhythmia, where the heart is beating so fast it becomes useless as a pump.
He doesn't remember anything from the incident, but two months later he's feeling fine and is grateful for his wife's actions.
"I'm just forever indebted to Laurie for doing what she did," Bob told The NOW. "It's an experience that I can't comprehend."
However, he's not surprised his better half remained calm and cool under the intense circumstances.
"She's a determined lady when she wants to be," Bob said.
He still isn't sure what caused his heart problem, but has been fitted with an internal defibrillator to keep his heart at a normal pace.
On Thursday, just in time for Valentine's Day, Laurie was awarded the Vital Link Award by the BC Ambulance Service at a ceremony in New Westminster that included some of the paramedics involved that day.
Lindsay Bomhof and her partner were the first paramedics to arrive at the Landy home. She praised Laurie's work to save her husband's life.
"We don't often have an outcome this well, and it's nice to see him recovered as well as he did," Bomhof said.
The Vital Link Award recognizes members of the public who save a life and raises awareness of CPR.
