A Halifax man says going to see a movie may have saved his life.
Earl Kiely accompanied his spouse, Janet Bousquet, to the theatre last week. As they watched "Angel Has Fallen" near its climax, he suffered a medical emergency.
"I remember watching the movie. Everything was kind of boring, I wasn't really super interested – I guess I was feeling not too good – and that was it," Kiely told CTV News Atlantic.
"All of a sudden apparently I went into cardiac arrest – and the rest is history."
Kiely doesn't remember much of the rest of the night. Bousquet is able to fill in the blanks for him.
"He was right beside me, gasping. I stood up and … was screaming 'Help, help,'" she said.
"The lights came on and the people came running – actually, the whole audience came running down toward Earl. Some nurse was holding my hand and some guy in the audience said 'I'm a doctor.'"
As the medical professionals jumped into action, dragging Kiely out of his seat and onto the floor, Bousquet feared the worst.
"I thought I was going to lose him because they said no pulse, no anything," she said.
The bystanders kept at it. One was performing CPR. Another phoned 911 and stayed in contact with the dispatcher. A third ran in with a defibrillator. Between them, they were able to keep Kiely alive.
"The next thing I remember was a doctor – I didn't know it was a doctor, it was somebody – screaming at me 'Earl, wake up!'" Kiely said.
Paramedics took Kiely to the hospital. While his life was no longer in danger, he took the near-death experience as a wake-up call. When he was asked if he wanted to have a defibrillator implanted in his body, he said yes without hesitation.
Kiely says doctors are "not quite sure" what caused his cardiac arrest. It wasn't his first bout with heart problems; he had triple bypass surgery 15 years ago.
What worries him most is what would have happened if he had said no to going to the movies – his usual answer.
"I probably would've been here in the cottage and Janet would have been to the movies and I would've been S.O.L. – I really think so," he said.
Kiely and Bousquet are now on a mission to spread the gospel of defibrillator awareness. They want to see the machines installed in as many places as possible, and knowledge of how to use them taught to as many people as possible.
"These defibrillators should be everywhere, from coast to coast – in theatres, restaurants, stores, schools," Bousquet said.
With a report from CTV News Atlantic's Amy Stoodley
