You could call it a holiday miracle. A Tampa firefighter was electrocuted, then brought back to life -- saved by his fellow first responders.
On Friday, just days before Christmas, everyone involved in the uplifting story got together for the first time since it all happened.
Wes Stevens is used to rescuing others. But on Dec. 6, he was the one who needed help. A lot of help.
Stevens was at home in his garage working on a hobby called fractal burning, running an electrical charge through wood to create artistic, charred patterns.
But something went wrong, and the next thing you know, the electricity was running through Stevens. Two thousand volts burned his hands and stopped his heart from beating.
He can’t remember any of it, but Stevens was dead.
“I was,” he said. “For 17 minutes, they said.”
Hillsborough sheriff’s Deputy Ernie Foster was the first to get to the scene. He started performing CPR and chest compressions, but it didn’t look good.
“I checked for a pulse. No pulse,” said Foster, “And no breathing.”
Hillsborough Fire Rescue was just a couple of minutes behind. They busted out a defibrillator and shocked Stevens' heart – again – but at least this time it was on purpose.
“We shocked him twice,” said Hillsborough Fire Rescue Medic Greg Phelps, “And after the second shock is when he came back to life.”
As they left the scene, firefighters noticed a decal on Stevens' truck and realized he was one of their own.
He was rushed to the intensive care unit at Tampa General Hospital, where just three days later, in the same building, Stevens and his wife Hannah welcomed another miracle: their son, Morgan.
“I don’t think words can describe how grateful we are,” said Stevens.
Hannah Stevens feared she was about to lose her husband and raise their son alone, but three days later they were all together in the same room. A family.
Stevens has promised not to put his wife through that again. No more tinkering with electricity.
“Yeah, it’s not happening again,” she said, “We’re all in agreement.”
And thanks to the generosity of those who saved Stevens, there are lots of presents this year for little Morgan. They brought bags of gifts for the new parents to their reunion at Hillsborough Fire Rescue’s Union office in Tampa.
But no present was greater than the gift of life.
“Everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong, but then it slowly turned itself around. And everything that could’ve gone right afterward went right,” said Stevens.
“Yeah, everything kind of fell into place,” added Hannah Stevens. “So, a terrible story ended up with a really good ending.”
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