In a remarkable display of teamwork and determination, nurses at AdventHealth Daytona Beach saved the life of William Bacelieri, a Vietnam War veteran, after he suffered a massive heart attack and was clinically dead for 45 minutes. Their refusal to give up turned what seemed like a tragic loss into a miraculous survival story.
The nightmare began at 6:05 am on February 7 when Bacelieri collapsed in the hospital’s ER, suffering a massive heart attack.
As medical staff rushed to his side, a code blue was called over the hospital’s intercom system. His wife had just walked into the hospital when she heard the announcement. She knew it was him and that her husband was in the fight of his life.
As soon as Bacelieri coded, nurses lined up to save him.
The first nurse, Terri Shelton, performed 15 minutes of CPR before exhaustion set in.
A second nurse, Nicole Medina, immediately took over for another 15 minutes.
When she could no longer continue, a third nurse, Lauren Anderson, stepped in, working tirelessly for an additional 15 minutes.
After 45 minutes of nonstop chest compressions, Bacelieri’s heart began beating again.
And then, it stopped.
Bacelieri coded two more times before being rushed to the hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab, where two more nurses administered CPR to resuscitate him.
There, doctors discovered a 90% blockage in the vessels at the back of his heart.
“This was as serious as it gets,” recalled Dr. Utpal Desai, a cardiothoracic surgeon at AdventHealth Daytona Beach. “He was getting about 10% of the blood flow to his heart that he needed. So, this was very, very serious. I was concerned his heart might stop again, so we put him on life support and then performed the emergency bypass surgery and his heart came back.”
Doctors warned the family that even if he survived, his brain function was uncertain after being without a heartbeat for so long.
According to Desai, it was the nurses’ relentless efforts that saved him.
“After we finished the surgery, we spoke to his wife and told her they weren’t sure if he would recover or if he had brain damage from the lack of oxygen,” said Desai. “But the chest compressions are what allowed him to wake up. His heart was getting squeezed by the nurses. Their chest compressions allowed oxygen to get to his brain. After the surgery, he did wake up and was responsive.”
That evening, when his children arrived, Bacelieri heard their voices. He opened his eyes. He responded to commands, and within 48 hours, he was awake, talking, and able to recall every detail before the incident.
Every doctor and medical professional involved called Bacelieri’s survival a miracle – but his family knows it was because of the nurses who refused to give up and God’s grace.
“They could have stopped. They could have said, ‘We’ve done all we can.’ But they didn’t,” Bacelieri’s wife, Kathy, told a WKMG News 6 reporter. “These nurses went beyond the normal limits of CPR. They pushed harder, longer, and gave my husband a second chance at life.”
“I felt very positive we were going to get him back,” recalls Terri Shelton, RN, a nurse in the Cardiovascular ICU. “I’m very intuitive and I knew it wasn’t his time. I said this guy is tough. We’re like a family. Everything just goes together seamlessly. I’m very proud of that.”
Bacelieri himself credits his survival to the nurses who never stopped fighting for him and to the Lord working through them.
“Nurses are the real heroes,” he said. “They don’t just do a job—they save lives. They saved mine.”
Watch the incredible Channel 6 news story to see Bacelieri explain more in his own words.
As an author and professor, Dr. Harvinder Arora’s addition further strengthens the hospital’s growing cardiovascular program in Lake County.
AdventHealth’s Community Care program helps the most vulnerable patients manage chronic illness, avoid hospital visits, and regain independence.
