Fort Worth police officer on road to recovery after heart attack

Fort Worth officer recovering after heart attack

A dropped cell phone could have helped save Fort Worth police officer Terrance Parker's life.

FORT WORTH, Texas - A dropped cell phone could have helped save a Fort Worth police officer's life.

Officer Terrance Parker was on the job when he suffered cardiac arrest on May 16.

"What I remember is that I was getting myself ready to go on a recruiting trip down in Austin, we had a Spartan event going on. Rainy day, I was loading up the Tahoe, put everything inside of it," Parker recalled. "Walk over to the bathroom and after that I woke up in the hospital. I don't remember anything in between."

The in-between was a major cardiac arrest.

Parker was near his office in the men's room.

Another employee was also there.

"From what I’ve been told, I guess I dropped my phone and his actions were, hey, are you okay, are you good?" said Parker.

Fort Worth officer survives heart attack at work

A North Texas police officer who survived a heart attack at work is thanking his colleagues who saved his life. FOX 4's Hanna Battah reports more on Officer Terrence Parker's story.

The next flurry of activity would involve several police and fire department staff, CPR and an automated external defibrillator.

"Clinically speaking, I was gone. I had no heart rhythm, there was no pulse," said Parker.

"We were told he had no pulse. He was not alive, is what we were told," Investigator Carolena Gentry recalled.

Gentry, who works closely with Parker, recalls the tense moments.

"Seriously, everybody is like gathered in a semi-circle, and we just started praying," she said.

With the relentless effort, Parker, a husband and father of four, regained a pulse.

His doctors say he had a 100% blockage to the artery that provides 50% of the body's blood flow.

Parker, in hindsight, recalls from time-to-time feeling over-exerted during his workouts.

"Pay attention to your body. Definitely pay attention to your body. If you feel something is not right, go have it looked at," he said.

Parker has not yet returned to work.

The messages he's sharing are straightforward.

"Learn the AED. Seriously, because you may have to spring into action sometime and save someone’s life," he said. "Life is precious. Life is a gift. It can be taken away at any point in time. So don’t take anything for granted."

The same AED used to shock and save Officer Parker was the fourth time it's been used to save an officer having a health emergency.