YORKVILLE, N.Y. -- Shift Supervisor Abigail Weaver likes to take the time to know the customers that come in to the Stewart’s Shops on Champlin Avenue in Yorkville, but George Ford is fortunate she and her Manager Nikki Sowie are so personable. Nikki noticed something wasn't right with George right away when he walked into the store recently.
"You know your customers. You know the ones that come in every day. You know their normal routine. It just wasn’t him. So I looked at him and I said you’re awful pale. I said I really feel like we need to do something," she said.
Kirk Tupaj // WKTV
Abigail Weaver noticed he wasn't himself too, and wanted to know if she could help.
"...and I’m like, 'you look really pale George, like are you alright? Like you feeling alright?' He’s like 'no, my chest hurts, I’m having a hard time breathing,'" said Weaver.
George didn’t know it, but he was having a massive heart attack.
"I really did think it was just going to pass, but Nikki and Abby, they wouldn’t give up. I never had a heart attack before, so I didn’t know what I was having," he said. "The girls seen something was wrong with me. They just sprung into action and called 911."
Doctors at St. Elizabeth's told George he was just minutes from dying, and George credits the two employees with helping to save his life. The girls were able to get updates on George’s condition and Abigail says they kept the entire store up-to-date during his stay at the hospital.
"I’m always going to have like a relationship with George now because of that, and I think he’s always going to be grateful of us and this company for like the employees you know paying such good attention to their customers," she said.
Nikki Sowle says, "It makes me feel good. Every day now that we know we saved his life you know….it’s nice."
George comes in almost every day to thank the two, saying "I’ll probably thank them every day as long as I come in here….I’ll never stop."
George is having a pretty successful recovery, although his doctors are putting him on some new medications, and he is working on changing his diet.
