CINCINNATI — Two strangers share a special bond now following a scary incident outside of Paul Brown Stadium prior to the Bengals-Raiders Wild Card game on Saturday, January 15.
Jerry Mills, a die-hard Bengals fan from Cincinnati, was on his way in to Paul Brown Stadium after an afternoon of tailgating when he noticed a Raiders fan on the ground, according CNN affiliate WLWT-TV in Cincinnati.
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That fan was Ed Fernandes, 78, of Miamisburg, who was on his way to the game with his grandson, Noah Harsh.
Harsh told WLWT that he knew something was off with his grandpa.
“I just knew something was off just the way he was falling so I tried to catch him but he just fell,” Harsh said.
People surrounding Fernandes thought he was having a seizure, but Mills, a former firefighters and current emergency room nurse, did not think that was the case.
“I look at him and, “I’m like, ‘that doesn’t look like a seizure activity.’ I look for a pulse, he didn’t have a pulse, and I was like, ‘I’m going to start CPR right now,’” Mills told WLWT.
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Mills told Fernandes, “I’m not losing you today,” and began CPR. And with assistance from another nurse, Mills was able to help Fernandes regain a pulse.
Fernandes then lost his pulse and Mills said he and the nurse who assisted him jumped into help again. Once the pulse was back, Mills and the other nurse tended to Fernandes until Cincinnati firefighters arrived.
Harsh described Mills’ actions to heroic.
“Without Jerry, we’d be telling a different story,” Harsh told the station.
Fernandes is still at UC Medical Center and is scheduled to have heart surgery on Thursday.