Houston -- A breakthrough procedure using something as simple as ice could keep cardiac arrest patients alive, and one Houston man is proof it can work, KPRC Local 2 reported.

For 44-year-old Scott Corron, being in shape is part of life.

"I've biked probably 6-to 10,000 miles a year for the last 15 years," said Corron.

By watching him ride, you'd never think he was in an emergency room not too long ago.

"I survived, but I'm still very emotional, it's surreal," said Corron.

See, during one of his rides in Memorial Park, his heart suddenly stopped.

"I made it to about right here and had a cardiac arrest here on the street," said Corron. "I hit the street and was essentially dead."

Paramedics arrived and got to work. Through CPR, he was unconscious, but had a pulse.

"The firefighters now have the equipment once they get pulse on patient to start cooling right away," said Dr. David Persse with the Houston Fire Department.

They used ice packs and cold saline to cool him down, fighting to avoid brain damage.

And once he got to the hospital, the process continued.

"By cooling patients, it's shown to protect brain cells from injury and from break down," said Dr. Philip Haas, a cardiologist with Memorial Hermann Northwest.

They lower the body temperature to 91 degrees, using large blue pads, and keep it there for 24 hours. They say that 7.6 degrees can mean the difference between never waking up and being able to get back to the life you once led.

Memorial Hermann Northwest has done this therapeutic hypothermia on 60 patients with incredible results.

"There's a 45 percent chance if you come here after cardiac arrest and get this treatment, you'll leave without neurological damage," said Haas.

Before this procedure, that number was more like 2 percent.

"It's just a simple procedure with tremendous benefits," said Haas. "I can't imagine why any hospital would not be doing this."

Scott Corron knows it firsthand.

"Not everyone is as lucky," he said. "I feel lucky, I feel blessed."

He says just being able to ride a bike again is a major victory.

"Hypothermia saves lives, it saves brains and it saved my brain," he said.

And could, one day, save yours.

Memorial Hermann Northwest started doing this treatment in 2008.

There are eight other hospitals in the Houston area that also partner with HFD to perform the procedure. They are: Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center, Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center, Methodist Hospital, West Houston Medical Center, St. Lukes Hospital, Clear Lake Regional, Kingwood Hospital and Houston Northwest Medical Center.