Heart patient meets pair who saved his life

If ever there were a good time to have heart failure, Justin Repshas picked it.

On Dec. 13, the 22-year-old College of Charleston student collapsed near Chapel and East Bay streets. Except for a trio of unusual circumstances, neither Repshas nor the two people who happened by and saved his life would have converged there.

Because his final-exam schedule altered his daily routine that week, Repshas started an intense exercise run about 4 p.m. that day. Just as he got started, the physical education major from the Spartanburg area felt woozy.

"I stopped to rest. Everything else from that day is fuzzy," Repshas said.

He fell, face up, with his back on the sidewalk and head on the grass. Several people stopped, but only

Meg Skeele, a nursing student at the Medical University of South Carolina, knew what to do.

"I was having a bad day, and one of my friends decided to take me out to a restaurant," Skeele, 26, recalled.

Skeele was driving and when she saw people around a man on the sidewalk, stopped to see if she could help. She said the man wasn't breathing, and 911 had already been called.

Having first learned CPR at age 12 and been recently recertified by MUSC, Skeele wasted no time.

"I didn't really think about it. I'd been trained to do it, and I just stepped up to the plate," she said.

Skeele began chest compressions, and several minutes later, Dr. Michael Bernard, a MUSC cardiologist, happened by.

Bernard had been shopping for a cookware gift for his wife and "struck out."

"It wasn't there," he said.

Bernard took "the back roads" home and spotted the small crowd around a prone man. No ambulance was in sight, so the doctor stopped.

Repshas had little pulse and only shallow breathing. Bernard encouraged Skeele to continue CPR, while he checked pulse and breathing, and unsucessfully tried to get someone to find an automated external defibrillator at a nearby businesses.

EMS arrived, and their defibrillator restored some rhythm to Repshas' heart.

Repshas, who had no ID on him, was taken to Roper Hospital unconscious and transferred to MUSC. His girlfriend, Jocelyn Bradley of the College of Charleston, found him only after police ended her frantic night of searching.

At MUSC, Repshas came under Bernard's care. Repshas was found to have a rare heart disorder and was released Dec. 21, after an internal defibrillator was surgically implanted. He is now in physical therapy.

On Friday, Repshas, Skeele and Bernard reunited for the first time since the incident.

"Words can't express how thrilled I am" that Skeele and Bernard came to his aid, Repshas said.

"It could not have turned out any better," he said.

All involved urge others to learn CPR, classes that are available from the Red Cross and other providers.