TOMBALL, Texas – It was supposed to be an afternoon date to the movie theater for a Tomball couple when the unexpected happened and the husband suffered a massive heart attack.
A teenage employee at Regal Cinemas 19 in Tomball is being credited for saving 68-year-old Dennis Gibbs' life.
“It was the scariest day of my life, the scariest time of my life,” said Cathy, Dennis Gibbs' wife.
She said they decided to catch an afternoon showing of Star Wars at Regal Cinemas 19 in Tomball on Jan. 20.
She said they went to eat in the cafe before the movie when the unexpected happened.
"Part way through, he asked for another soda, we had just finished our sandwiches and the next thing I know, he was face down on the bar,” Cathy Gibbs said.
She called for help and 18-year-old Corey Brennan sprang into action.
READ: Teen uses CPR to save man at movie theater in Tomball
“I heard one of the employees start screaming we need to call 911. He's not responding,” Brennan said. “Once we decided we he needed CPR we got him on the ground, started chest compressions and by that time EMS was called and they were on the way.”
Brennan, a junior at Tomball High School, said he wants to become an EMT and firefighter when once he gets out of high school.
"You never know when CPR might need to be administered,” Brennan said, who performed CPR on Gibbs.
“The VA doctor, when we saw her said it was just a miracle that I was able to survive it, a flat out a miracle,” Dennis Gibbs said.
He spent 10 days in the hospital , with a bump on his head from falling, and two clogged arteries. Doctors at Tomball Memorial Hospital put a stent in and now Gibbs is trying to heal.
"If it wouldn't have been for Corey, I wouldn't have him,” said Cathy Gibbs said.
She said they have been married for 22 years.
The only casualty that day was Dennis Gibbs' leather jacket which has his patches showing he served in the Navy and Vietnam.
First responders had to cut it off him.
“When I saw it , it was like, ‘ugh why?” Dennis Gibbs said. “You got to respond and react quickly ... if that means you got to cut something, cut it.”
He said his perspective of life has changed.
“I’m going to appreciate things more, not taking anything for granted, life is too short to take it for granted,” Dennis Gibbs.
The Gibbs family look forward to meeting Brennan one day and said they can’t thank him, the first responders and doctors enough.
“Probably give him a big hug and thank him,” Dennis Gibbs said. “He might not want a big hug but that’s what he’s going to get.”