Three golfers save heart attack victim midway through their round

Thirteen years ago, Jim Walsh saw a little boy drown at a suburban picnic because no one knew how to perform CPR.

"It was a horrible, horrible feeling," said Walsh who was with his kids, ages 2 and 3 years old, at the time. "I thought, God, what if it had been my kids?"

He hosted a CPR class at his workplace a few days later.

Then, on Aug. 13, 2009 that "horrible feeling" returned, when Walsh and some other golfing buddies saw Greg Rose lying face down near the ninth hole of the Mount Prospect Golf Course.

Rose, 50, had suffered a major heart attack and by the time Walsh got to him, he had no heartbeat or pulse. His eyes were glazed over and the color was drained from his face.

A member of Rose's golfing group, which was playing ahead of Walsh's, had called 911 but none knew CPR.

"I knew we had to do something, but really, I thought he was dead," said Dave Fairburn, one of the golfers with Walsh, and who learned CPR as a lifeguard in the 1970s.

Fairburn, of Mount Prospect; Walsh, of Des Plaines and Tom Stahl, of Mount Prospect worked together to perform CPR on Rose. They stayed at it for 10 minutes until paramedics arrived.

Rose didn't regain consciousness, but as they worked on him color came back into his face and they found his pulse.

Word about the rescue has spread. As Fairburn and Walsh recounted their story Thursday afternoon at the golf course, a crowd of about 10 other golfers stopped what they were doing to listen.

"It shows you how delicate life is," Fairburn said. "We were just playing a stupid round of golf and all the sudden this happens."

Fairburn, Rose and Walsh are part of the St. Raymond's golf league that meets weekly at the golf course. Jim Rose, Greg's cousin, is also in the league and was at the course when Greg went down.

"You'd never think this would happen to Greg," Jim said. "He played golf every week, worked out and is even on a basketball league."

Rose was rushed from the golf course to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.

He was put into a coma and underwent triple bypass heart surgery. He remained in intensive care until he returned to his Park Ridge home on Tuesday.

"He doesn't remember two days before the golf course or two days after," his wife, Sue, said. "His recovery will take a while."

But he will recover. For that, Sue thanks Stahl, Walsh and Fairburn.

"They saved his life," she said. "They were strong enough to turn him over and they just took over. They're such great guys, I'm a little emotional, but the whole thing was so scary."

In fact, Sue Rose says her husband is one lucky guy. He was lucky to have three golfers behind him who knew CPR. He was lucky it happened on the ninth hole, the easiest hole to get to from the parking lot. And he was lucky to have paramedic John Dolan arrive on the scene.

When Dolan saw Greg Rose lying on the ground, he didn't panic.

"As soon as I got out of my rig, I saw someone performing CPR and really that was a big relief," said Dolan, who has been teaching CPR classes at the Mount Prospect Fire Department for four years.

"All the fancy tools we have aren't as effective as someone stepping in and performing CPR. It makes a huge difference."

When someone's heart stops and they don't have a pulse for four to five minutes, irreversible damage is done and basically you start to die, Dolan said.

Fairburn says, "we were freaking out, but we heard the sirens and knew help was coming." The two visited Greg in the hospital.

"I told him, in some cultures we're married now," Fairburn joked. "Seriously, he looks so much better now. I guess God had other plans for him."

Dolan said anyone from the Northwest suburbs can sign up for his CPR classes, or they can locate classes in their own communities. Call (847) 870-5666.