Fried Food and Football: A Deadly Combination

As Mrs. Undaground could tell you, it's not always fun to watch a Steelers game with me. When Jerome Bettis fumbled, I was stunned. But check out this guy. He needs to watch this weekend's game at Denver on Tivo, with a defibrillator by his barstool.




Fan recovering from heart-stopper
Terry O'Neill
Andrew Russell/Tribune-Review
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
For die-hard Steelers fans, Jerome Bettis' fumble as he tried to score from the 2-yard line was a heart-pounding moment in Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts.
For Terry O'Neill, of Rinne Street in Arlington, it was a heart-stopping moment - literally.
As he watched the game on TV at a South Side tavern, his heart stopped seconds after the crucial play in the final moments of Sunday's divisional playoff game.
"Jerome is my hero," O'Neill, 50, said Monday from his bed at UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Oakland, where he was in stable condition.
"I wasn't upset that the Steelers might lose," he said. "I was upset because I didn't want to see him end his career like that. A guy like that deserves better. I guess it was a little too much for me to handle."
O'Neill credits two city firefighters who also were watching the game at Chupka's I at 27th and Jane streets for saving his life.
"If it wasn't for Tommy Herbster and Dave Grady, I probably wouldn't be alive today," said O'Neill, an engineer with Local 95 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. "I'm very thankful that they were there."
Grady, of Carrick, who works as an instructor at the fire academy, said he and Herbster, a firefighter at Engine Company 22 in Arlington, began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation after seeing O'Neill on the floor of the tavern.
"He was out," said Grady. "We called 911 and started working on him until help arrived a few minutes later, and they were able to use a defibrillator to get his heart started again."
O'Neill, a former weight lifter, said he did not believe he was seriously at risk of a heart attack, but doctors at Presby diagnosed him with hypertension, or high-blood pressure, which runs in his family, and an erratic heart beat.
When asked yesterday how he was feeling, O'Neill said: "The Steelers won the game and I'm still alive, so I guess I'm doing pretty good."
O'Neill said doctors who are treating him have prescribed medication to deal with the hypertension, and he is scheduled to undergo a procedure this week to have a pacemaker implanted to regulate his heartbeat.
Even though O'Neill likely will be out of the hospital before Sunday's AFC championship game against the Denver Broncos, he plans to take in the game in more relaxed environs.
"If I can, I'd like to go down to Chupka's to thank the guys who helped me, but for the most part I guess I should probably take it easy and watch the game at home."