Merryl Hoffman, a healthy 63-year-old attorney and former marathon runner, was rushing to catch the subway on Manhattan’s Upper East Side when she suddenly collapsed… her heart had stopped. It was a sudden cardiac arrest, and her chances of survival were slim… until fate stepped in.
Right outside Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Breast Center, two nurses, Sabrina Castle and Gianna Formisano, happened to be walking to work. Strangers called out for help, and the nurses immediately jumped into action, performing CPR and keeping Hoffman alive until an ambulance arrived.
Hoffman was rushed to NewYork-Presbyterian, where doctors later confirmed… her heart had stopped for several minutes… and those quick-thinking nurses had saved her life. “I was told I would’ve died or been brain dead if not for them,” Hoffman said.
She now has a defibrillator implant and is back at work… forever grateful to the two heroes who appeared at just the right time.
