NORTH CANTON, Ohio — A North Canton family is grateful for their loved one’s life after he experienced a close call at his home about a month ago.
“I'm lucky that I had a guardian angel that brought my paper and seen me fall or I wouldn't be here today,” said Robert Bertsch, who received CPR thanks to his newspaper carrier.
In the blink of an eye, Bertsch said his world got turned upside down while pushing something in his garage.
“I just fell over, and she seen me,” Bertsch said.
Christy Geiger, who happens to be his newspaper carrier, rushed to pick him up and sat him on the bumper of his truck, Bertsch said.
Moments later, he fell again.
That's when Geiger gave him CPR until emergency crews arrived, he said.
“I'm very grateful for them, and I'm very grateful for our dispatchers because they do a great job,” Bertsch said.
More than a month after the incident, Bertsch told News 5 he's slowly recovering from a heart attack.
“They put a stent in, which I already had a stent because I had three bypasses several years ago,” Bertsch said.
Still, Bertsch said this experience surprised him because he had been fine following his surgery.
“I didn't have any problems years ago other than when they gave me a stress test that they said I needed to have the bypass,” Bertsch said.
His family said they can't help but give credit to Geiger’s quick actions.
“My grandfather and I are just so close, and it's beyond words of how thankful I truly am that she could've saved him,” said Gary Eudy, Robert Bertsch’s grandson.
When Eudy received a call about his grandfather that cold April morning, he said he felt his world shatter.
“I was very scared. I had no idea what was happening at the time," Eudy said.
Eudy said he's extremely grateful to have his grandfather by his side and believes Bertsch has yet to fulfill his purpose, even at the tender age of 85.
“Very lucky that Christy was here at that time," Bertsch said.
We reached out to Geiger for comment, but she didn't respond.
However, the family said they can't thank her enough for being at the right place at the right time.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
