FAIRFIELD — Frank Darby had just started feeding baby bottles into a local grocery store’s recycling machine when a heart attack struck him. Luckily for him, there were observant and responsive store employees on duty that day, otherwise he might not have survived, he said.
“I put four or five bottles in, and then I woke up in the intensive care unit of the emergency room at St. Vincent Hospital,” he said.
Darby, a longtime college golf coach and current radio show host on SiriusXM’s PGA Tour channel, had stopped at the bottle return machines at the ShopRite in Fairfield before picking up his daughter at the school on a Friday afternoon when he collapsed. Two workers handling shopping carts in the nearby parking lot spotted him unconscious on the ground and called for help. That’s when Fredy Cruz, the store’s grocery manager, sprung into action.
Realizing Darby had suffered a heart attack, Cruz began administering chest compressions within two minutes. He continued to receive treatment until police and paramedics took over.
Alex DaCosta, manager of the Fairfield ShopRite, said Darby regained consciousness for about 15 to 30 seconds. while he was receiving CPR.
“When they called me, they just told me someone was in the bottle room — usually it could just be a slip and fall,” DaCosta said. “I wasn’t aware of the situation until I got there, and Fredy was giving him chest compressions.”
Darby woke up in St. Vincent Hospital a few hours after the incident and spent six days there before returning home. He said doctors found no heart damage but linked the problem to what he called an “electrical scenario”, which is why he now wears a permanent pacemaker to support his heartbeat.
But Darby wasn’t going to let his emergency trip to the hospital stop him from doing what he loves: talking about golf. Darby, who coached golf at St. John’s University for two decades, hosts “On Course” on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, a talk show that airs every Sunday at 10 a.m. He said he has never missed a show in his 10 years on the air, and he tuned in for the weekend episode from St. Vincent’s intensive care unit to keep the sequence alive.
After calling Cruz to thank him for saving his life, Darby invited the ShopRite manager on his show to recognize him for his act — an opportunity to express gratitude, especially before Thanksgiving.
“I just told him, ‘Hey, look, you’re my hero, and how many people can interview on national radio a hero and someone who saved his life?'” Darby said. “So it was a different scenario, and it says pretty much the same thing about being able to be there and being properly trained by ShopRite.”
Darby said the CPR training process is part of St. John’s coaching regiment, but after his life-saving experience, he hopes to be an “advocate” for the procedure and plans to participate in the training and continue to bring Fredy on the show for occasional conversations on the subject. He praised the preparedness of ShopRite staff, where last month’s emergency was just the latest example of a situation where they had to step in and save a life.
DaCosta said the grocery chain ensures that at least five employees working at a location at any time are trained and certified in CPR, and that staff renews their certification every two years. He said the case involving Darby marked the “fourth rescue” for ShopRite, one of which occurred in Fairfield during a night shift about six years ago, when an employee revived a co-worker.
DaCosta said Cruz was able to act without any hesitation as one of these trained workers, and his actions not only helped save Darby’s life, but also helped ensure he could continue to have the same quality of life as before the incident.
“He’s a total team player,” DaCosta said. “It all kind of embodies his character.”
Despite some rib discomfort from CPR, Darby said he regained all his energy at home. He started driving and gardening again and said he was ready to return to daily life with a special bond with a new team of friends.
“It’s just a great opportunity to be alive, and I’m sure as this continues I’ll think about it even more,” he said. “So every time I go to ShopRite, which is a lot – I shop there a lot, it’s going to be a great memory. And I’ve made a lot of friends there. And I feel like to be part of the ShopRite family.”
