Recovering patient thanks fellow LIRR commuter who saved him

SYOSSETT, N.Y. (FOX 5 NY) - Brad Wieboldt is lucky to be alive after suffering a massive heart attack on a Long Island Rail Road train two weeks ago.

"Lifesaver, godsend, miracle worker," Wieboldt said, referring for his hero, Avi Hatami, with whom he reunited on Wednesday.

Hatami, 23, is a medical school graduate who was on the same 7:49 train into the city. Minutes after boarding, he heard an announcement that medical assistance was needed for an emergency.  

"I couldn't hear him breathing, I saw his eyes were dilated. I thought this guy's dead," Hatami said. "I have to bring him back." 

He took charge and performed CPR on Wieboldt with help from a nurse for nearly 15 minutes until the train arrived in Westbury.

Paramedics brought Wieboldt, a father of two, to NYU Winthrop Hospital where he was put into a medically induced coma. He woke up on his 51st birthday with no recollection of what happened.

"I said hopefully he'd make it," Hatami said. "I thought the odds were very low."

But after catching up, Wieboldt realized the odds were actually in his favor because of Avi.

"It's simple," Wieboldt said. "I wouldn't be around here without him."

Right now, AEDs aren't on Long Island Rail Road trains. If there's a medical emergency, the LIRR radios ahead to first responders to meet the train at the nearest station. But Wieboldt is pushing to change that.

"It's just beginning stages of it but the goal would be [to] get as many [AEDs] on as we can and work with the Long Island Rail Road," he said.

While Hatami is still applying for his residency, Wieboldt has no doubt the future will be bright for him and he knows who he'll be sitting next to on the train to the city once he's cleared to work again.