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UW doctor saves man's life in line for Mariners game

Bob Brown was waiting for an Edgar Martinez bobblehead when his heart stopped working. Dr. Josh Benditt jumped into action.

Doctor Josh Benditt, who saved the life of Mariners fan Bob Brown while he was standing in line to get an Edgar Martinez bobblehead, presents the bobblehead to Brown in the hospital. (Credit: KING)

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A UW Medical Center doctor saved the life of a man waiting in line at the Mariners game 10 days ago, and now that man is on the road to recovery.

Bob Brown, 82, was waiting to receive an Edgar Martinez bobblehead when his heart stopped working. UW Medical Center Doctor Josh Benditt was in line, too, only feet away and he stepped in to save Bob’s life.

Brown had a heart attack in 2005 and had a defibrillator put in, but when he lost his breath 10 days ago, it didn’t activate. He needed CPR.

“I was pressing too hard, and I ran out of breath,” Brown said.

“You had no pulse, no respiration,” Benditt said. “Your lips were blue, and you were not breathing or making any motion.”

Benditt is a lung doctor, but he knew he needed to get to work on Brown’s heart. He said he had done CPR hundreds of times, but only a few times has it been out in public for all to see.

Everything worked out.

“I said, ‘Well, we need to do CPR’ and that lasted probably a minute to 90 seconds, and then all of a sudden his defibrillator gave him an internal shock, and he woke up,” Benditt said.

Benditt was able to meet with Brown in the days after the incident. He explained the issue to him during that conversation.

“What the cardiologists think happened is that the CPR got just enough blood past your aortic valve that was narrowed to give yourself oxygen to be able to accept the defibrillator shock,” Benditt said to Brown.

Brown was able to express his gratitude.

“I looked right at him, looked right in his eyes, and he was looking right back, and I said ‘I can never, ever, thank you enough, ’ and I hope to be able to for the rest of my life,” Brown said with tears in his eyes.

At 82, Brown now has a new lease on life, and he also has an amazing new friend. When Benditt met Brown in the hospital, he brought him a gift -- one of the Edgar Martinez bobbleheads that Benditt and his wife got that day.

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