Salute to Heroes: Davidson County man saves neighbor’s life with CPR
By Kenny Beck
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DAVIDSON COUNTY, North Carolina (WXII) — The American Red Cross is awarding a Salute to Heroes award to a man who took life-saving actions to help a friend and neighbor during a medical emergency near the Lexington/Thomasville city line in the spring of 2023.
Jason Gibson performed CPR on Tim Crook after he collapsed from doing yard work at the top of a hill on Cunningham Brickyard Road. Crook said doctors later told him he suffered cardiac arrest and his heart “got out of rhythm.”
Crook was hospitalized for a week and missed six weeks of work but survived and was healthy enough to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding two months after the April 29 incident.
Gibson says his daughter was the first person to spot Crook and immediately called him to help.
“She was maybe thirty feet in front of me and I was on a dead sprint and so was she and she got to Tim and she turned around and said, ‘Dad, he just took his last breath,'” Gibson said.
Gibson said he and two others took turns doing CPR for, what felt like an “eternity” but in reality was more like three to four minutes.
“He was dead. There was no movement. His eyes were set. He was already blue. And my mother came over, and my mother began to pray over Tim, and all the sudden, Tim just gasped extremely hard for air, harder than I’ve ever seen anybody gasp for air, and I knew he was gonna be OK,” Gibson said.
Gibson owns several businesses in Davidson County, including 64 Portables. After the close call with his friend, he had free CPR training for all of his employees and also bought an AED for his shop.
“You never know. It could be your kid, it could be your family member tomorrow and everyone needs to have that training. Everyone needs to be ready if something happens,” Gibson said.
“Well, he’s always been a good friend. And now they’re family. That’s the way I look at it. They’re family,” Crook said.
Gibson says he appreciates the honor but is not a hero.
“I just did what anybody would do in that situation — try to help their friend,” Gibson said.
The American Red Cross offers both CPR and AED classes.
The Salute to Heroes awards ceremony is Sept. 26 in High Points.
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