(NewsNation) — The stars aligned just right for a Pennsylvania grandfather who found himself in desperate need of medical help.
Chris Favorin was finishing up a workout when he suddenly felt ill. Next door, his neighbors were just settling in for a rare day of relaxation. Their meeting — on the porch — would forever change all three lives.
Chris and Rachel Mowry typically ignore the doorbell, “because we get so many solicitors coming through the neighborhood,” Chris Mowry said. Fortunately, this time they checked, and saw that it was their next door neighbor, Favorin, on the porch and in distress.
”They initially looked at it and thought, ‘Oh, it’s Chris.’ But then when they saw me leaning over the railing, and then dropping to the ground. That’s when they said, you know, ‘Wow, this is serious,'” Favorin said.
Favorin wasn’t sure what was going on, but his neighbors did. Chris Mowry is a firefighter and Rachel is a nurse practitioner.
“He actually laid down in the time that we came down. So he was laying on the ground, holding his chest and saying, ‘My chest hurts, my arm hurts,'” Rachel said.
Favorin had a seizure and quickly lost consciousness. The Mowrys started CPR on their patient, and more accurately, their good friend.
”It’s someone who’s important to us, just like a part of our family. So on the inside, we were, I think, hysterical. But on the outside, it was our job, just like we do at work, stay calm and collected, because you’re not going to fix chaos by adding chaos,” Chris Mowry said.
Fortunately, an ambulance was closer than normal. On the way to the hospital, his heart stopped again but the veteran was talking by the time he arrived.
“We had a whole conversation. I told her that I was getting married in five weeks and that I can’t miss my wedding,” Favorin said.
Rachel added: “He said I’m supposed to get married in five weeks, and you need to make sure I get there. He was actually back to his joking self.”
The soon-to-be newlywed had what’s called a widow-maker, a nearly complete blockage of his left anterior descending artery.
Out of the hospital, within 96 hours he was back on the Mowry’s porch.
”I came downstairs. We came out and he started crying and we started crying and everybody gave a hug,” Chris Mowry said.
Feeling better than he’s felt in years, Favorin now has a wedding to plan.
“September 10, and yes they are invited,” Favorin said of his neighbors and wedding date.