?Ghost? hosts dinner for three
?Twilight Zone? friendship flourishes
By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer
Macabre as it may sound, dinner at a Lane Ranch home Wednesday night will be served by a ?dead man? to three new friends.
The host, Roger O?Connell, who divides his time between Seattle and Ketchum, was the victim of a massive heart attack in July during a tennis clinic at Thunder Spring, and, according to witnesses as well as his own words, he was ?dead? when CPR was begun on him.
Three of those who rushed to O?Connell?s side will be his guests for dinner in his home--Dr. Karsten Fostvedt, a veterinarian; Sun Valley Realtor Brad Dufur, and Thunder Spring tennis pro Rob Kolb.
Meanwhile, the three men were hailed by Fire Chief Greg Schwab as genuine Samaritans, and awarded each of them a plaque during a ceremony before the Ketchum City Council Monday night.
O?Connell was there, too, and spoke briefly, expressing gratitude to his rescuers and saying he had been brought back from the dead.
Fire department personnel who also rushed to O?Connell?s side during the emergency were assistant chief paramedic Mike Elle; Lt./Paramedic John Rathfon; Lt./Paramedic Tom Mclean; Lt./Advanced Emergency Medical Technician Dave Bell; Lt./Paramedic Lara Babalis; Lt./Advanced EMT Peter Stephenson, Senior Firefighter/EWMT Matt Colesworthy; Engineer/Advanced EMT Seth Martin, and Engineer/EMT Keith Potter.
Fostvedt was working out in the Thunder Spring gym when a frantic appeal for a doctor rang out. O?Connell had collapsed just as a tennis class conducted by former Davis Cup captain Tom Gorman was beginning.
Fostvedt, Kolb and Dufur immediately began CPR on O?Connell.
O?Connell was ?dead,? Fostvedt said. His upper body was purple and his lower body was white. He had no pulse.
But after being airlifted to Boise, and given a quadruple bypass, O?Connell was literally brought back to life.
?It was like the ?Twilight Zone,?? Fostvedt said.
