Bernie, MO woman thanks EMTs for saving her life - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

A Bernie, Missouri woman had a lifetime of thanks to give to a couple of EMTs with the Stoddard County Ambulance District after they helped saved her life.

She welcomed them to her home on Valentine's Day to give them a proper thank you.

"I was just so excited to see them," Cecily Graham said. "They have no idea what they've done for me and my family. And to see my baby's face again and my husband, they'll never know what they've done for me."

It started on December 30, 2016. Cecily Graham awoke in severe pain in the early morning hours. Minutes later, her mother-in-law called 911 for help.

"I woke up around 1 a.m. that morning feeling extremely... just hurting everywhere. Mainly my back. A lot of back pain," Graham explained.

Stoddard County Ambulance District EMT-B Nick Pfau and EMT-P Zack Thrower arrived moments later.

"We initially got her up on the stretcher and we didn't realize how serious it was," Pfau said. "We got called for back pain and we didn't realize until we got her hooked up how sick she was."

Graham had Strep Pneumococcal Pneumonia.

"It's a type of pneumonia that most people don't live through," Graham said. "My health and my age played a huge factor in me surviving."

Thrower and Pfau saw that help couldn't wait for Graham for help at the hospital. So they acted fast right there in the ambulance.

"We had to do a more invasive intervention to get her blood pressure higher. Her blood pressure was at a critical low," Thrower said.

Thrower and Pfau had to perform an intraosseous infusion, injecting fluids directly into the bone due to poor veinous access.

"If we hadn't got her when we did, it could have gone downhill pretty fast," Pfau added.

After her stay at the hospital, Graham recovered. She said she can't thank them enough for what they have done to save her life.

"It's really nice to know we are appreciated and people appreciate us doing our job," Pfau said.

"It makes us feel better for everything we do because we don't get that a lot," Thrower added. "Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the people that do appreciate us."

For Graham, they are her heroes and she can't thank them enough.

"To have them, I'll never forget them," Graham said.

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