After three weeks of recuperating from a heart attack, a Smyrna teen wanted to thank those who saved his life.
Lawrence Marzett III and his father came by the Smyrna Fire Station to thank the firefighters who made sure he was rushed to the hospital in a helicopter, the department said Tuesday.
The Campbell High School 10th-grader was playing a game of touch football with friends Sept. 30 when he collapsed.
"The call came in as a child with difficulty breathing, possible asthma attack," said Lt. Kyle O'Bryan, paramedic on Engine 2.
Those aboard Engine 2 headed over to the Glen Park Apartments off South Cobb Drive.
They found the 16-year-old boy lying in the grass surrounded by his friends. He wasn't breathing.
The crew started CPR, put in an IV, shoved a tube down his throat, shocked him with the defibrillator, injected him with an EpiPen.
By the time an ambulance took him to WellStar Hospital in Austell, he had a pulse of 110. From there, a helicopter took him to Egleston Hospital.
He spent several days recovering at Egleston in the intensive care unit before he was discharged.
The boy and his father went to the Concord Road station Thursday.
"We were overjoyed when we heard the good news about his prognosis," said O'Bryan. "We were even more surprised when he walked into the station."
A GoFundMe page that has raised $5,760 for the boy said he had a pacemaker put in.
The page said the teen is active at North Metro Martial Arts in Smyrna and ROTC at Campbell.
