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Colorado EMTs save woman's life during the holidays, meet the mother of 6 days later

Posted at 4:08 PM, Jan 03, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-03 21:08:17-05

DENVER -- No day is promised, and no one knows that more than Polly Warring.

"You don’t realize how fragile life is until you almost lose it. And I have six kids, ages 7 to 15, who I plan on seeing all their weddings and graduations and meet the grandkids and everything, and that was almost taken away from me,” said Warring.

Polly was on a ski trip at Copper Mountain over the New Year’s holiday when she started not feeling well.

She had a seizure and slipped into cardiac arrest.

On the way to the hospital, EMTs never gave up performing lifesaving CPR and defibrillation for 15 minutes.

Polly was taken by helicopter to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, and was unconscious for a day and-a-half.

After waking up, she focused on one thing. 

“I definitely did not want to leave Colorado without thanking the people who did it [save my life] and letting them know they did a good job doing it; and it wasn't that I survived and I’m in a bed somewhere on a tube, I’m going to go back and live a vibrant life with my kids,” said Warring.

Polly got her wish.

Denver7 was there as EMT Bill Clark surprised her in her hospital room. He was a part of the team that saved her life. 

“I remember your face because when I was sitting on the bed I remember you saying look at my face, look at my eyes, where are you and you were saying all that stuff. You’re the last thing I remember before waking up in the trauma center,” Warring told Clark before giving him a hug.

Most patients don’t get to thank the person who saved their life, and most EMTs don’t get to hear their patient’s backstory after they’re better.

“It’s really painful when it happens to anybody, but when you hear potentially six kids lost their mom at Christmas, that was really heart wrenching so to see her today and to see how happy she is and to see her go home to her six kids. It’s incredible,” said Clark.