‘An answer to prayer’: The miraculous survival of G.T. Myers

HARTWELL, Ga. — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, age 24, collapsed after making a hit in the first quarter of an NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January 2023. The players on both teams, tens of thousands of fans in the stadium, and millions of people viewing the game on television watched in horror when Hamlin made the tackle, stood up and fell over on his back.

An emergency action plan went into effect to save Hamlin’s life. Josh Allen, the Bills quarterback called for prayer on Hamlin’s behalf.

The gravity of the situation was called unprecedented. The game was at first suspended and eventually postponed. 

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute states that out-of-hospital cardiac arrest claims the lives of about 90 percent of the approximately 350,000 people in the U.S. who go through that traumatic experience each year.

Due to an immediate on-field response to Hamlin’s crisis, the treatment he received from the University of Cincinnati Level 1 trauma center, and the prayers of many Americans he survived.

On Monday, September 23, 2024, Hamlin, back on the Bill’s roster, snagged his first career interception from Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and thrilled the fans with his miraculous comeback

G.T. Myers, a faithful Georgia Baptist, and a lay leader of First Baptist Church of Hartwell also suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. He may not have the notoriety of Hamlin, but his story is compelling to say the least.

On July 26, 2018, G.T. and his wife Susan decided to go to an Atlanta Braves game to celebrate their wedding anniversary. After the ballgame, the fireworks display, and a music concert, the Myers retired to their hotel.

Myers recalled, “My wife is a light sleeper, and she was awakened by the sounds coming from my side of the bed around 4:30 AM. She turned on the light to see what was going on and saw that I was in deep distress, gasping for breath and unresponsive to any stimuli. She called 911 and informed the attendant of the situation.” Myers said his wife was told to put him on the floor and to begin performing CPR immediately.

“As Susan wrestled with the problem of safely getting me on the floor, two hotel employees, James Good and Victor Player came to the rescue,” he said. “They successfully treated me on the floor and began CPR. It was not long until firefighters and EMTs from the Cobb County Fire Department came and took over.”

Much later, explained Myers, he learned that “the official estimate was that I went without a heartbeat for 27 minutes.  I suppose that is gauged from the time of the phone call to 911 until my heartbeat was restored.”

The responding firefighters, Myer said, went far beyond the county guidelines in resuscitating him. Though those guidelines allow responders to cease CPR after 10 minutes of unsuccessful treatment, in his case they performed CPR for 20 minutes. They also used an automatic external defibrillator four times, while the guidelines say they may stop after two.

“I was still not breathing, so I was ‘bagged’ by the EMTs to provide oxygen to me before I was prepared for transportation to the nearest hospital,” Myers said.

Once in the hospital, the CICU staff worked to get Myers’s breathing started. He was placed on a ventilator to keep oxygen flowing into his body.  Additionally, the medical staff decided to put him into a medically induced coma. Subsequently, he received a surgically emplaced pacemaker/defibrillator to help stabilize his heart function. Lifesaving efforts were in full force as dozens of people became a part of the medical team.

After two weeks of intense treatment Myers began to become aware of the perilous, unplanned, and unwelcomed adventure he had experienced. Cognitive, physical and functional therapy were all necessary to get him ready to leave the hospital.

Only those who have experienced a similar health tragedy can begin to understand all that a first responder team and hospital staff do to assist a patient in such circumstances.

Myers added, “As time grew close to my discharge from the hospital, Susan took me back to the CICU to say, ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’ to the great staff who had helped save my life.”

A month after being discharged from the hospital, he returned for a follow-up visit with the cardiologist. On the way back home, the Myers stopped by the Cobb County fire station from which the firefighters and EMTs had been dispatched in July. They learned there that the county Fire Marshal wanted to have a recognition ceremony for Susan and the two hotel employees who had been so instrumental in saving Myers’s life.

At the ceremony, the Fire Marshal presented certificates to Susan, James, and Victor. Myers explained, “I was able to make a short acknowledgment of all they had done on that fateful morning. It is not often that one gets to thank and hug the necks of those who literally saved one’s life.”

Myers also recalled his return to church. “Something occurred that I’ll never forget. As we entered the church for the first time, I locked eyes with a gentleman in the rear of the church and his jaw dropped when he saw us.  I may have looked like a ghost to him, but he was actually looking at a miracle - an answer to prayer.”

Myers credits the prayers of his church family. “The response of our pastor, the church, our family, and the prayers of all the people that were interceding for me is one of the things that I will never forget. Their petitions sought God’s intervention and God responded in a miraculous way. After all, who else besides God could have aligned all the pieces for the outcome that occurred?”

Myers described the providence of God that saved his life:

• The prior week he had been home alone much of the time as Susan was visiting her mother. Had the cardiac arrest happened then, there would have been no one with him to help.
• Susan reacted the night of the cardiac arrest by grabbing the hotel phone, rather than her cell phone, enabling the front desk to dispatch help immediately.
• The hotel employees were able to move Myers to a firm surface so that CPR would be more effective.
• One of the responding employees, James, was CPR certified though he had never performed CPR on a live person. “What are the chances,” asked Myers, “that a night employee of a hotel would be certified in CPR.”

Damar Hamlin was the recipient of a miracle and so was G.T. Myers. Both cases are examples of an omnipotent God who still answers prayers.