His Heart Wouldn't Give Up

April Bradley was just starting her shift at Panera when her brother told her someone had passed out in the back of the restaurant.

- Théoden Janes

17. He doesn’t remember waking up that morning, or helping prepare breakfast for his three young children, or kissing his wife, Sarabeth Ogburn, goodbye. He doesn’t remember driving to a Panera Bread in Charlotte, North Carolina, or going to his favorite booth in the back, where he regularly sat, working on his laptop. And he doesn’t remember crumpling to the floor at about 4:15 p.m., his heart having gone completely, terrifyingly still.

April Bradley was just starting her shift at Panera when her brother told her someone had passed out in the back of the restaurant. When they got to John, he was splayed on the carpet. His face was dark purple. “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” Bradley says. She dialed 911. It was 4:17 p.m.

As luck would have it, Charlotte- Mecklenburg police officer Lawrence Guiler was about 50 feet away. He had just tended to a minor accident and was about to get back on the road. Another lucky stroke: Before joining the police, he had been an EMT.