Sep 15, 2009 5 min read

By Patty Yauger Herald-Standard

It was a perfect August evening for a baseball game. The rain-filled clouds had moved eastward and a light breeze was blowing across PNC Park.

The downtown buildings and bridges created a beautiful city skyline for those awaiting the start of the Pirates? and Milwaukee Brewers? game.

But this game was unlike any other. As I looked toward the pitcher?s mound, there stood my 75-year-old father ready to toss out the first pitch.

As he worked the baseball in his throwing hand, waiting for direction from our Pirates? team hosts and listening to Joe Klimchak as he recounted how Dad came to be on the mound that day, my thoughts turned back the pages as the story was more than what was summarized for the crowd gathered in the stands.

For as long as I can remember, Dad has been a Pirates fan. Any given day of the week and any time of the day or night, if a game was being broadcasted, it was on the radio or television at our house.

Roberto Clemente was the player against whom all others were and continue to be judged by and while Bob Prince had his detractors in some circles, Dad liked his enthusiasm and shared his passion.

As players came and went, Dad kept abreast of their progress and always was a team supporter from his livingroom chair, office desk, car or wherever he was listening to the game.

He?s been to Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park over the years and spent several days at spring training a few years ago with his grandson. He speaks fondly of that opportunity to see the up and coming players up close and personal.

As his grandsons became of age to play ball, Pap could be found in the stands urging them on.

His love of baseball began as a youngster and like most young boys. he wanted to be a big-league pitcher. Those that had the opportunity to watch him play have told me that he had talent and the heart and soul of a ballplayer. The passion has not waned over the years.

As he prepared for his first major league appearance, he admitted that he had been waiting 60 years for this moment.

It was a moment that might not have taken place if it had not been for the quick response of several paramedics and emergency medical technicians, physicians, nurses, flight crews and others from Fairchance to Pittsburgh that rallied around him two months ago when his heart stopped beating, not once, but twice.

He was getting ready to visit a family grieving the loss of a loved one when Mom noticed something was just not right.

My sometimes obstinate father refused to be transported by ambulance to the local hospital, maintaining that he would be all right.

Using her own good judgment, Mom summoned help, which arrived just as the situation became life-threatening.

Thanks to Fairchance Firemen?s Ambulance Co. paramedics and emergency medical technicians Bill Bailey, Don Drew, Ray Eicher, Paul Thomas, Art Metts and Jody Kamp, Dad?s heart began to function again.

A Lifeflight medical team accompanied him to Allegheny General Hospital for further emergency treatment and eventual quadruple bypass surgery.

As he laid in the emergency room, where no television or radio could be found, the man that had been brought back to life just two hours before was inquiring of his attending medical team as to the score of the baseball game.

While my heart raced with fear and anxiety as I stood at his bedside, he wanted to know if the Pirates were ahead of the Minnesota Twins.

To me, that is a real fan of the game. Over the next several days, he opted not to watch the games as they sent his heart beat into high gear and that?s not a good thing for someone awaiting major heart surgery.

Afterwards, with new plumbing that allowed the blood to flow freely through his veins and arteries, he began watching the games from his hospital bed. I knew then that he was going to be all right.

It was the quick response of the local ambulance crew and Dad?s recovery that had brought them and him to the game that night.

The ?Great Saves? campaign was launched this past spring and brings together patients that have suffered a major medical trauma with those that have used their training and skills to save their life.

It was Dr. Eric Brader, an Allegheny General Hospital emergency medicine physician that proposed the program.

?Typically, EMS providers, police officers and firefighters are the first to respond to an emergency medical situation involving cardiac arrest, stroke, burns or trauma,? he commented.

?Once a patient is transported to the hospital, however, most first responders do not have an opportunity to see that patient again and never know the patient?s outcome.

?Likewise, patients who survive an emergency situation later think about the persons who save their life. These patients are grateful to be alive and many wish they could personally thank the medical personnel that responded to their medical emergency.?

The program also enlisted the aid of the Pirates? organization to host the patient and the emergency providers for a night out at the ballpark.

True to its design, the program gave Dad an opportunity to say ?thank you? to those who had rallied around him that June night.

We learned it was Jody Kamp that was responsible for reviving Dad, so it was he who caught the first pitch.

When given the go ahead, Dad lobbed the ball toward the batter?s box.

It wasn?t one of his best pitches or likely the way he had been planning for it the past six decades. However, Kamp recovered it and the two shook hands and walked off the field.

It was truly a great save and a great moment.