By Caroline Hall

A UK CPR instructor saved a North Carolina fan’s life two summers ago.

Vicki Sageser, a part-time teacher in UK’s department of kinesiology, held a CPR certification celebration in honor of John “Toby” Tyler Monday afternoon in the W.T. Young Library Auditorium.

Sageser saved Tyler’s life the summer of 2009 while they were both on vacation in North Carolina.

Tyler’s wife, Marty Tyler, yelled through the hotel hallways the morning of July 26, “Help, my husband is having a heart attack!”

Sageser immediately started preforming CPR on Tyler.

“I wasn’t really sure how long I was doing CPR,” Sageser said, “My adrenaline was pumping so much that I didn’t get tired.”

An emergency response team arrived on the scene 15 minutes after the initial 911 call.

“They got here and shocked him four times and his heart got back into a rhythm and then took him to the hospital,” Sageser said. “I was very worried. The statistics show that every minute a victim goes with out an (Automatic External Defibrillator) shock, their chances of survival go down 10 percent.”

Sageser received a phone call on July 28 that began with Tyler saying, “Hey Kentucky, it’s good to be alive.”

“I owe my life to this little woman and her training, and her husband and his help,” Tyler said.

Tyler stressed the importance of being CPR certified and staying clear minded when an emergency situation arises to the audience.

“CPR is like a ball game — if you don’t practice it, if you don’t perfect it or if you don’t use it come crunch time, you’re not going to be able to do it,” Tyler said. “I think Vicki is the epitome of practice.”

Tyler reached out to Sagesar’s students to share the importance of being certified in CPR and renewing your certification.

“With certification knowing how to do CPR you have the opportunity, if the chance ever arises, to step up and do something about it.” Nicholas Vogler, a kinesiology major, said.