A young man, whose mother was saved from cardiac arrest nine years ago by members of the Sparta Ambulance Squad, returned with her Wednesday night to express his thanks and to tell them how his own life ended up being transformed as well.
"On March 30, 2009, my mother went into sudden cardiac arrest at the Presbyterian Cemetery," said Nick Addesso, 23. "I was 14 at that time. I watched you and the paramedics work, and it inspired me."
Addesso, whose family lived in Hawthorne at the time, was attending a funeral with his mother that day when she collapsed suddenly and without warning. After being clinically dead for nearly 10 minutes, his mother was resuscitated and taken to Newton Medical Center, where she spent 11 days in recovery before being cleared to return home to Hawthorne, in Passaic County.
"The closest thing I can equate it to is magic," Addesso said. "Today she's doing very well."