Jim and Laurie Leone of Copperopolis were leaving a party in early November. With Jim in the driver's seat and Laurie and a friend in the truck, "suddenly, I heard my husband grunt and I turned to see his head thrust backward and his body go limp," Laurie said.
The truck, in reverse gear, rolled down the driveway, across a street, through some bushes, down an embankment and into a tree.
It took paramedics more than 20 minutes to arrive. Meanwhile, several friends who had been at the party knew CPR and began working on Jim. They could not find a pulse.
"When the paramedics arrived, they initially didn't think they would be able to resuscitate him given the time he had been without a heartbeat," Laurie said. "There were a ton of prayers said that night while folks were trying to revive Jim. The paramedics worked for another five minutes before they got a pulse and could shock his heart (twice) with the defibrillator."
Jim was taken to a San Andreas hospital and transported the next day to Dameron Hospital in Stockton. He ultimately ended up in a Kaiser hospital in Santa Clara, where he underwent a five-way bypass and had a defibrillator implanted in his chest. He finally returned home the day before Thanksgiving.
"All of the medical professionals he came in contact with during those 18 days told him how lucky he was to be alive," Laurie said. "A nurse at Dameron told him all his 'guardian angels were together that night.' He was nicknamed 'Miracle Man' at Kaiser. Paramedics told him they have never seen anyone revived after being flat-lined for that long."
Jim's now taking walks and helping with light chores around the house.
"Life is so unpredictable," Laurie said. "Jim knows that life is short and he no longer sweats the small stuff."
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