Golfers unite to save life of heart attack victim

By SCOTT BAUGHMANLedger Staff Writer

J.C. Moore went to Gaffney Country Club for a round of golf with some friends on Saturday. But the outing turned into a brush with death that might have proved fatal but for the actions of some quick-thinking heroes.

“He just collapsed at the golf course,” said Pam Lester, Moore’s niece. “This was his second heart attack. I spoke with Chick Blanton, who was there with him, and he told me what happened.”

Moore began having chest pains during the game and stopped breathing. Blanton, along with fellow golfers Bill Mullinax and Danny Cartee, called 9-1-1. As they waited for paramedics, Blanton got the attention of other golfers, one of whom was Larry Fowler, 55, also of Gaffney.

“It was really a group effort. There were several of us who helped J.C. You just do what you have to do in a time like that and hope someone will do the same for you. The Lord has a strange way of handling things,” Fowler said.

Fowler said he had taken training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation during junior high school and a refresher course several years ago as part of a rescue diving course, “but once you’ve had the training, you don’t forget it. CPR training should be mandatory for everyone. Either in high school or maybe before getting a driver’s license.”

Lynn Mabry, who was in the group with Fowler, agreed.

“Someone came and got us from the hole in front of their group,” he recalled. “They said J.C. was having a heart attack. I think they called it something else medically, but basically his heart just stopped beating. Larry and I drove over there and Bill had already gotten him turned over and called 9-1-1 so we started doing CPR. And we could tell when we had him and when we lost him. If there’s anything that comes out of this, it’s that everyone needs to know CPR. What are the chances that three of us (Fowler, Cartee and himself) would be there at the same time that knew what to do? If he pulls through, then the value of that training will be proven. Right now, we’re just praying for him and his family.”

This was the second time Fowler has been involved in a lifesaving effort. Twenty-five years ago a co-worker had a heart attack at a company picnic, Fowler said, but the efforts to revive him failed.

“I’m just thankful that our efforts this time were successful,” he said.

Lester couldn’t agree more.

“I’m just so thankful to those men for what they were able to do,” she said. “I can’t tell them how grateful we are and how glad we are that they were smart enough to know how to proceed.”

Moore, 65, is currently in the intensive care unit at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.

“They’re going to perform surgery on him Thursday or Friday,” Lester said. “Because this was his second episode, the plan right now is to give him a defibrillator implant.”

Emergency personnel from the Corinth fire department used an automatic external defibrillator to help keep Moore alive until EMS personnel arrived from Upstate Carolina Medical Center.

“I would say that without the CPR done by his buddies, the other rescue efforts would have been futile,” said Dr. Dan Karns, who treated Moore at the emergency room at UCMC. “Getting shocked by the AED and then later by the paramedics was instrumental in making sure he survived, but getting the CPR early was very important.”