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'I owe her everything': Bulk store employee becomes big time hero

Earlier this summer, the store's pharmacist sprang into action when a man went into cardiac arrest.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Like any big box, bulk store you can find just about anything at Sam’s Club in Grapevine.

But pharmacy manager Katie Thompson says nothing could have prepared her for the super-sized situation she found herself in earlier this summer.

“We all sit in that class and hope it’s something we never have to do and unfortunately, I did,” she said.

It happened a few months ago.

Katie was nearing the end of her shift when a manager came running toward the pharmacy desperate for help.

On the other side of the store, in the café, a man had collapsed on to the floor and Katie was the only employee working at the time who knew CPR.

“I just kinda said a prayer to God, ‘I hope he’s OK, but when I got there, he unfortunately wasn’t,’” Katie said as she held back tears.

Grandpa Rodney Clark, 59, had gone into cardiac arrest. By the time Katie got there, Rodney’s face was already purple.

Rodney was at the store that day because he’d been hired to resurface the parking lot. The only reason he went inside was because he’d locked his keys inside his truck, which is why he’s still alive today.

“If I hadn’t left, locked my keys in my truck, if I had gotten in that truck, five minutes later I’d be in that truck dead,” he said.

Katie kept Rodney alive for more than 12 minutes before paramedics arrived.

They recently reunited at the store where Baylor Scott and White hospital donated an AED and honored Katie for saving Rodney’s life.

“She not only saved me,” Rodney said. “She saved a brother, a son, a grandson, an uncle, grandfather, so she literally saved six people, not just me.”

Katie, however, doesn’t believe she’s a hero.

“I went home that night thinking he hadn’t made it,” she said as she started to cry. “So I felt very guilty that what I had done was inadequate. So still to this day it’s just such a miracle that he’s here.”

Katie may not feel like a hero, but Rodney says there’s no better way to describe the woman who saved his life.

“Cause I owe her everything,” Rodney said as he cried. “My family knows that, my friends know that. She’s my hero. Always will be.”

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