Driving home from an appointment on January 3, Nancy McKenna, a Corporate Quality Assurance (QA) Supply Manager with Cavendish Farms New Annan for the past 13 years, and her daughter Emily, a two-time summer student at Cavendish Farms, noticed something unusual.

“Outside an apartment building we drive by all the time in Summerside, PEI, there was a man laying on the ground,” said Nancy. “Emily was driving so I asked her to drive back around. I knew something was wrong.”

Nancy got out of the car and called to him. Getting no reaction, she ran over to check on him.

“The man was lying face down on a concrete patio slab and was unconscious. I yelled for Emily, who was still in the car, to call 911,” said Nancy.

While they were on the phone with dispatchers, he slowly gained consciousness.

“At that point, although he wanted to get up, we did what the dispatchers told us and kept him comfortable and, not knowing what his injuries were, kept him from moving.”

Paramedics arrived and the man was taken to hospital. He had suffered a heart attack. In the days that followed, the man’s daughter-in-law reached out through social media to find the woman and her daughter who saved her father-in-law’s life.

“She contacted me through Facebook Messenger and told me he was on his way to recovery and wanted to meet us when he was feeling better,” said Nancy.

“Many people have asked why I stopped. Why wouldn’t I?” said Nancy. “I think it’s a wonderful thing to show my daughter. When someone’s in need, you stop to help. Even if I wasn’t in the car, I’m confident Emily would have done the same thing.”

While Nancy and Emily don’t have CPR, she says they went on pure instinct and followed the directions dispatchers gave them.

“After this, it might be a good idea to get CPR. Maybe everyone should have it because you don’t know when you’ll need it.”

CPR or not, on a winter’s day in Summerside, PEI, Nancy and Emily helped save the life of a man they didn’t know but will hopefully soon meet.