A Burtonsville, Maryland, woman and a Montgomery County 911 call taker credit each other with lifesaving actions that led to a joyous family reunion.
Both have vivid memories of the evening of May 11.
“It was just like any other day,” said Henry Estrada, a 911 call taker and dispatcher at Montgomery County’s Emergency Communications Center (ECC).
Estrada told WTOP he was answering calls at the time when he got a 911 call from Tara Lee, who said her husband Mark, a retired police officer, had collapsed outside their home.
Lee told WTOP that she and her husband were at home and had been on FaceTime with their son, when her husband said he needed to go outside to get some air.
Lee said she thought it was odd because it wasn’t like her husband to walk away from a conversation with their son, Shane, a linebacker with the Los Angeles Chargers who lives in California.
She said she followed her husband and suddenly, “I saw him out of the corner of my eye, like his knees giving away and him just falling into the bed of his truck. So I quickly hung up from our son and called 911.”
It was terrifying to see her husband struggling to breathe, Lee said. “He’s making like a gurgling sound, and his eyes are open, but he’s not responding to me.”
On the redacted 911 call released by the Montgomery County ECC, Lee can be heard telling Estrada, her voice rising, “He can’t talk, I need someone here, I need someone here!”
As Estrada asks for some information, including the patient’s age, Lee can be heard saying, “Wake up, babe, wake up!”
Lee remembers her fear and her frustration growing as she wondered why she wasn’t hearing sirens heading her way.
Estrada said that’s not uncommon — while 911 operators are gathering information, and offering direction, they’re also arranging for the dispatch of first responders.
While coordinating the emergency response, Estrada can be heard telling Lee she’ll have to perform CPR on her own.
“I honestly didn’t know what to do,” Lee said, but she was able follow Estrada’s directions.
“He kept me calm. He kept me focused, not panicking. And he just stayed with me on the phone,” she recounted.
Estrada said Lee’s ability to collect herself and listen to his directions was impressive: “I remember how strong Mrs. Lee was. Even when she was doing chest compressions, she kept giving affirmations to her husband, saying that everything was going to be OK. She was absolutely amazing.”
Mark Lee agreed that his wife is “absolutely” amazing. He added, “She’s the love of my life. She saved my life, then afterward, she made sure I was well taken care of.”
While Tara Lee and Estrada were able to recall many of the details of that night in May, Mark has absolutely no memory of the heart attack that nearly took his life.
“I woke up maybe three weeks later and I said, ‘Where am I?'” he said.
When told he was in the hospital, he asked why. “And they said, because you had a heart attack. And I didn’t know what they were talking about,” he recounted.
Since that night, Mark has worked hard to recover and was able to join his wife on a trip to California for a very important event: their son Shane’s first NFL football game.
Estrada said it’s not typical for 911 call takers and dispatchers to get an update on a caller once the emergency’s over.
“As a call taker, you sort of just handle the situation right then and there, and then as soon as either fire, rescue or police are on the scene, you just move on to the next call,” he said. “There isn’t much closure in this career, that’s for sure.”
For Estrada to hear that not only had Mr. Lee survived, he was able to travel to see an important milestone in his son’s life: “That just lights up your day.”
After his experience, Lee said he’d urge people not to hesitate to call 911 in an emergency.
“Listen to the instructions that they’re giving because it could safe your life. It saved my life,” Lee said.
Estrada agreed that “If you need 911 — call 911.”
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