PLANT CITY, Fla. — You've heard the phrase "the right place at the right time," but what about being there twice in one week? Pasco County Firefighter Patrick Dudkiewicz never expected he would be in that situation.
"It means that much more seeing everyone here today for an act I wasn't expecting anything from," he said inside his gym Wednesday.
Dudkiewicz usually works out at the fire station. But on May 25, with nudging from his wife, he decided to go to his gym, Cross Fit Plant City, instead.
"I believe it was absolutely God's design to have Patrick here. He does a lot of workouts at the fire station, (but) less here. So it's not that he's here every day," Carol Mate, owner of Cross Fit Plant City.
Just as he was finishing his work out, he had to spring into action.
"I was actually doing my cool-down walk. And I hear my name being yelled, and I'm like, 'That's not good.' So I came running in, and I found Patty was on the ground, and she's not breathing," he recalled.
Without skipping a beat, Dudkiewicz went into first responder mode. He performed CPR and grabbed the AED to help Patty.
"It's one of those things. You're not expecting it. Whereas with our job, on duty, we get notice. We get a call. Here you are at the gym, heart rate's up. Not expecting this to ever happen," he said.
And he definitely didn't expect to be in the same exact position just days later.
"Richard, though, kind of got me. We're doing a cool down walk and we're walking by and he gave me a fist bump and said good job. And earlier that day, he thanked me for what I did for Patty. And then five minutes later, I'm doing the same thing now for him," he said.
Most rescues don't have much of an ending for the responders.
"It's the one thing in this field you don't get to see the people again. Typically if they make it out, you just do your job or the hospitals, and we've never seen them again," he said.
On Wednesday, Dudkiewicz returned to the gym. He got another surprise, one pleasant this time. Unlike most rescues, he got to embrace Richard and Patty.
"In this instance, God sent me a guardian angel, and that angel saved my life. I'm forever indebted, and I'm going to do the best I can just because," Richard told the firefighter.
Honors also poured in for Dudkiewicz.
"We have a challenge coin for you. Character is when people do remarkable things out there in the field," said Plant City Fire and Rescue Interim Chief Tim Mossgrove.
"He saved two lives. So he and his wife will have a lifetime membership with Cross Fit Plant City as long as I own it," said Mate.
Dudkiewicz said his big takeaways from everything are to learn CPR and "listen to your wife."
"I wasn't going to go and she said, 'Yeah, you should go,' and I showed up," said Dudkiewicz.
Two cases of the right person at the right place at the right time.
