Smith, who helped start the Newberry County Rescue Squad, began Jan. 16 like most days by helping out in his son's flag store. Around lunch time, son, Jamie Smith, had arrived at the store early and asked his dad to run some errands.
While out of the store, Smith stopped by his Adelaide Street home.
After walking to get his mail and waving at a neighbor, Smith collapsed to the ground. He was later spotted by his wife, who was visiting her mother up the street.
Family, at first, thought Smith was unaccounted for for around 30 minutes, but have since narrowed the time frame to five minutes.
Smith's mother-in-law and wife called 911, and his son-in-law, Josh Parsons.
Josh being home sick from his job with Union County EMS was just one thing in Jimmy Smith's favor. Parsons, who also lives in the neighborhood, ran to his father-in-law and started CPR.
Paramedics Joe Rooney, a neighbor of the Smiths, and Tim Streets, a family friend, were working the EMS shift in Newberry and arrived on the scene in minutes-another plus for Jimmy Smith.
As the medics hooked Jimmy Smith up to a defibrillator, they shocked him 11 times as they told their friend to hang on.
“He turned totally blue,” describes Jamie Smith. The son also happens to be a Columbia firefighter, and had a heart attack at the Clemson and Carolina football game in November.
Once Jimmy Smith was at Newberry County Memorial Hospital, Parsons begged his father-in-law be sent on to Spartanburg Regional Memorial Hospital where a new treatment that cools body temperature called “Code Freeze” or therapy-induced hypothermia is in use is such cases.
The rapid cooling of a person's body slows all the processes down and allows for less damage in the brain.
The Regional One helicopter crew began to cool Jimmy Smith's body when they reached the Newberry hospital. He was also given drugs to temporarily paralyze him, put in the cardiac care unit, and 24 hours later he was slowly warmed back up. As Smith warmed up and regained consciousness during the next 12 hours, he was taken off a respirator.
“We spent those 36 hours praying,” said daughter, Bridgett Parsons, who works for Newberry County EMS.
Things for Jimmy Smith began to turn around.
Doctors determined he had no major blockages in his heart, but that his heart had suddenly stopped, sending him into the cardiac arrest. The arrest may be attributed to an antibiotic that he had taken.
To prevent his heart from stopping again, doctors put a pacemaker into Jimmy Smith's heart. The pacemaker is also able to transmit a daily report to Smith's doctors.
“They tell me how I am doing,” said Jimmy Smith.
For 13 days the family stayed in its RV in the parking lot of Spartanburg Regional Hospital in order to be by Jimmy Smith's side.
But now, the Shriner, set to become the state Shrine leader in 2011, has a clean bill of health.
“They call me Lazareth,” said Jimmy Smith of a journey he does not remember. “The good Lord was looking after me, and so many things fell into my favor, like Josh being home sick.”
Since his full recovery, Jimmy Smith is now talking about his experience at conventions and on radio spots.
Josh and Bridgett Parsons say they are both working to educate other EMS workers about Code Freeze in hopes of saving the lives of others.
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