PHOENIX -
He was clinically dead. His heart stopped beating for seven minutes. Firefighters brought him back to life, thanks to an innovative therapy.
It's called hypothermic therapy. It basically lowers your core body temperature to let your brain heal.
Firefighters started using hypothermic therapy two years ago and today, hundreds of lives have been saved.
"The last thing I remember is standing against a wall and gasping to catch my breath," says Robert Dewane.
And then his heart stopped beating for 7 long minutes. Robert Dewane flat lined after having an asthma attack.
"Amazing that I'm even here. I can't believe I don't have any brain damage from it."
Dewane's life was saved thanks to Phoenix firefighters and hypothermic therapy.
"I think he was only the 2nd or 3rd patient we had done it on," says Phoenix firefighter Shannon Gorjanac.
Phoenix firefighter Shannon Gorjanac still remembers saving Dewane's life. She gave him drugs to restart his heart, and then they started hypothermic therapy, bringing down his core body temperature by giving him an ice cold IV fluid.
"You would never know that he died two years ago and spent 11 days in the ICU," says Gorjanac.
"It sounds like he had a tremendous outcome," says Dr. Michael Hickman, Paradise Valley Hospital.
Doctors at Paradise Valley Hospital continued Dewane's hypothermic therapy using a water blanket.
"If we can reduce the amount of energy needed to keep the brain alive by lowering the body temperature, then hopefully it gives the rest of the body a chance to heal itself," says Dr. Hickman.
In weeks, Dewane was healed. Two years later, he finally got to meet some of the people who saved his life, to say: "Thank you and I appreciate everything that they do every day."
Dewane says he's completely back to normal, other than stuttering a little when he gets stressed.
