http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2005/06/18/SPGOKDASQ31.DTL
Dead fan and Pistons both come back to life
Scott Ostler
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Auburn Hills, Mich. -- Judging by the TV ratings, this NBA Finals isn't a series to die for, but Ed Szumowicz did anyway.
With his Pistons trailing two games to zip in the series, and down by five points in Game 3, Ed checked out.
"I was standing up cheering," says Ed's wife, Judy. "He was sitting down and I looked and his head was down. I thought, 'Oh, my god, he's fallen asleep! ' I poked him. 'Ed? Are you OK?' I poked him again. A girl who sits by us asked me, 'Is he OK?' ''
The Palace of Auburn Hills was rockin'. Stevie Wonder played the national anthem on his harmonica, setting a Motown mood, and the home fans were determined to chase away the Spurs' evil spirits with their thunder.
When Ben Wallace stole the Spurs' first pass and rammed home a dunk, the Palace walls seemed to shake. Even when the Spurs came back and took their five-point lead just before the end of the first quarter, the Palace was still bedlam.
Ed and Judy Szumowicz (Zoom-uh-wits) have been big Pistons fans since the Bad Boys days. For a time they even traveled to some away games with a booster group. They have tickets for half the home games and they attend all the home playoff games.
"Ed loves the Pistons," Judy says.
She says her husband, age 78, gets excited at the games, "But not as excited as I do."
Now Ed was slumped over in his seat, motionless. He had no history of heart trouble, except that the previous day he went to the doctor to have an irregular heartbeat checked out.
The doctor gave him a choice of an angioplasty or pills. Ed, a retired pharmacist, opted for the pills.
Everything was fine, then suddenly it wasn't.
"I unbuttoned his shirt, it was so hot in there," Judy says. "A doctor who sits near us came over, he felt for a pulse ..."
Before tip-off of every playoff game at the Palace, they play a Pistons highlight video on the big screen, accompanied by the song, "This Is How a Heart Breaks," by Rob Thomas.
Tuesday night, a half hour after that video, this was how Ed Szumowicz's heart breaks: Very quietly.
"He's not breathing," the doctor said. "There's no pulse, no heartbeat."
"What?" Judy said.
Almost instantly, another doctor noticed the commotion and pushed through the crowd. The two doctors lifted Ed to the concrete steps and went to work. One gave mouth-to-mouth, the other pulled Ed's shirt away and worked his chest.
A crazy coincidence: The two doctors had been high school classmates but hadn't seen one another since graduation. Todd Marcus and Danny Rosenberg. They didn't take time to catch up. None of that, "Third period biology! Mrs. Feeney! Wasn't she a hoot?"
As the docs puffed and pounded, the game continued. Chauncey Billups hit a technical-foul free throw to cut the Spurs' lead to four, but Tim Duncan tipped in a missed shot for a six-point Spurs lead. Things were not looking good, on the court or in the seats a few rows up.
Four days before his 79th birthday, Ed was not responding. Father's Day, five days away, was not looking good. Ed and Judy have three children and five grandchildren.
"He'll be OK," the fans were telling Judy, but all she could do was stand in shock and watch two strangers work on her husband of 46 years.
It took them about five minutes to bring Ed back to life. He started breathing on his own. Ed says he remembers watching his Pistons go five points down, and the next thing he knew he opened his eyes and he's staring up at two strangers working on him.
"Where are you?" one doctor asked Ed.
"The Palace," Ed said.
"Why are you here?"
"For the game."
Good answers.
They loaded Ed onto a stretcher. He heard cheering and realized the fans were cheering for him. As attendants carried the stretcher down the aisle and to an exit tunnel, Ed, his shirt ripped away, raised his right arm high and gave the thumbs-up.
"He feels wonderful, he's in terrific spirits, his color is great," Judy reported Friday, and a similar report was being issued about the Pistons.
Ed is in a hospital ward with no TV, but Thursday night the staff kept him posted on the progress of Game 4. The Pistons won and he joked, "They won it for me."
Judy and her son went to Game 4 and cheered as the two doctors were saluted at midcourt. Both men are pediatricians, but don't believe the rumor that they got Ed to start breathing by smacking his butt.
"If we hadn't been at the Palace, he'd be dead now," Judy says. "We're eternally grateful to the two doctors. It's a miracle."
Ed had a pacemaker/defibrillator installed in his chest Friday, and he's good to go. He might even leave the hospital today. Ed won't be at the Palace for Game 5 on Sunday, but his heart will be.
Dead man cheering.