Midtown Athletic Club member Steve Holland (second from left) with Tim Kirby, Linda Kleiss and Neil Wywialowski, who worked together to save Holland's life. Photo courtesy of Dave Silbar.

PALATINE, IL -- The fitness director at Midtown Athletic Club in Palatine, IL, and two of the club’s members have been honored by the town’s fire department for using CPR to bring a man back to life after he suffered cardiac arrest in the club last November.

Steve Holland was running on a treadmill when he suffered a heart attack and collapsed, according to a club spokesperson. A fellow member, Tim Kirby, saw the incident and rushed over to help. Kirby, who had been trained in CPR when he was a youth basketball coach but never before had to use the life-saving technique, administered mouth-to-mouth breaths after finding that the 68-year-old Holland had no pulse.

Linda Kleiss, a nurse practitioner and Holland’s friend, had been working out on a nearby machine and stepped in to perform chest compressions. Moments later, the club’s fitness director, Neil Wywialowski, appeared with a defibrillator and shocked Holland, bringing back his heart rate.

Holland had a heart valve replacement and bypass surgery two weeks after the event and has already returned to his fitness regime. He told Palatine’s TribLocal newspaper that he hoped the story would encourage other businesses to train their staff in life-saving techniques.

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