By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-05 09:36:35 | Updated at 2026-08-06 02:21:41
22 hours ago
An elderly man who suffered a heart attack on a flight and was saved by a nurse was able to thank the woman over the phone after telling a local news outlet he wanted to find her.
Patrick McGee, 77, remembers being on a Southwest flight from Omaha, Nebraska, landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona on July 29, talking to a woman sitting next to him before blacking out and waking up in an ambulance.
He would later learn that he had a heart attack, and his heart had stopped beating before a nurse practitioner leapt into action and brought him back.
As it turned out, the woman he had been talking to, Lora Holton, is a retired critical care nurse, and she immediately started CPR on McGee after he suffered the medical emergency.
'I was scared...I was scared for him,' Holton told KYMA. 'You have a lot of adrenaline, and you just do what you're trained to do and hopefully try to help save someone.'
Another nurse on the plane, Kaitlyn Louchheim, rushed to McGee's side and took over from Holton. She began conducting deep compressions on the elderly man and sat on him for extra weight as he lay in the plane's aisle.
'I was thinking that the aisles are really, really skinny and that I'm going to have to sit on top of this poor man and use all of my weight but if this doesn't happen now and it's not effective, then this isn't going to work,' Louchheim told KYMA.
But her quick thinking and decisive action did work, and McGee began breathing again within minutes.
Patrick McGee, 77, suffered a heart attack on a flight before he was resuscitated by a nurse on board. He was able to thank the woman after telling the news he wanted to find her
Nurse practitioner Kaitlyn Louchheim performed deep compressions on McGee and sat on his chest while he lay in the plane's aisle to bring him back
The close call occurred on a Southwest flight from Omaha, Nebraska, as the plane was landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona on July 29
Louchheim recalled seeing the elderly man's chest begin to rise and fall and his eyes flicker open.
'Everyone was so excited, beside ourselves. It was really emotional and then he actually opened his eyes,' Holton similarly recounted.
McGee was transported from the plane to the Arizona Heart Hospital, where after spending a few days recovering, he began trying to find the woman who resuscitated him.
'I owe this person a great deal. She brought me back and I have a son, grandkids, wife, brothers and I'm still here with them because of her,' he told KYMA.
'There are no words you can say. I was gone. They said I was dead and brought back,' he added.
The outlet aired a story on Monday about the heroic actions of those aboard the Southwest flight and McGee's search for his saviors.
Louchheim saw the segment, and within a day she was able to connect with McGee and talk to him over the phone.
'He was like, "You are my angel, I'm so thankful for you,"' the nurse told KYMA, adding that the call was a 'very emotional moment for myself as well.'
Louchheim said that McGee told her over the phone: 'You are my angel, I'm so thankful for you'
Louchheim was originally going to be on a different later flight, but a spot happened to open up on the one with McGee and she took it. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is pictured
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Louchheim's presence on the plane was a fortunate twist of fate, as she had originally been meant to be on a later flight from Omaha to Phoenix for her daughter's birthday.
But a spot opened up on the plane McGee was traveling on, and Louchheim opted to take that one instead.
'I'm just glad I was in the right place at the right time,' she told KYMA. 'He was meant to have more time.'
