35-year-old who had heart attack playing soccer says teammates saved his life

ATLANTA — A 35-year-old local man, who collapsed after having a massive heart attack at Piedmont Park, says his teammates saved his life.

Channel 2 Anchor Craig Lucie met with him, his teammates and his doctor at the hospital where his life was saved.

Peter Jones was playing the first game of his soccer season in April at Piedmont Park when he started feeling strange.

“After about five minutes, I looked over at a teammate and said I was really winded and tired and needed a sub,” said Jones.

Jones tried to make it to the sideline.

“I called for a sub and everything went dark,” said Jones.

His teammate was next to him.

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“I was next to Peter and kind of caught him as he fell and I was yelling for help. Then two teammates came over to do CPR within 10 secs,” said teammate Taylor Tyger.

As Tyger held him, his two teammates, who happen to be a nurse and doctor, started working on him on the field. A stranger then grabbed what saved his life.

“Someone ran over with AED (a defibrillator) and shocked me twice until EMTs got there,” said Tyger.

Paramedics rushed Peter to Piedmont Atlanta and immediately took him to emergency surgery. Lucie spoke with his surgeon, Dr. Christopher Meduri, a cardiologist.

“The surprising thing was they were 35 years old,” said Meduri.

That’s what Meduri first thought.

“It was surprising we found that Peter had what’s called a widow maker a heart attack essentially an artery was blocked that provides a majority of flow to his heart and because of that, his heart went into a funny rhythm that caused his heart to stop beating,” said Meduri.

“I’m thankful he was there, and he saved me,” said Jones.

As for his teammates,

“A lot of gratitude,” said Jones.

And since Meduri and Jones are avid Atlanta United soccer fans, it was only fitting to for them to bond more over the sport that brought them together with the players they love – a surprise visit from United players Michael Parkhurst and Oliver Shannon.

Meduri said Jones' teammates are heroes. They have created a GoFundMe page which has helped cover his out of pocket medical expenses and they are now raising money so more AED's are readily available.

Cox Media Group