CPR Instructor Saves Man After Heart Attack While Shopping
Right place at the right time to save the life of a 27-year-old who went into cardiac arrest just shopping at a TJ MAXX!
A 27-year-old man in Tennessee named Zach Porter went into cardiac arrest at a T.J. Maxx. But he’s alive today thanks to the quick thinking of a CPR instructor named Mike Brown. He performed CPR to keep Zach going until paramedics arrived. Here are Mike and Zach talking about what happened.
A Cookeville man is alive after a CPR instructor performed life-saving measures during cardiac arrest at a TJ Maxx store. https://t.co/KgGO11KzzV
— NewsChannel 5 (@NC5) September 20, 2025
Here’s the thing, Mike had no desire to go shopping…he said, “I didn’t want to go TJ Maxx with my wife, but I did,” “And at the last minute, I decided to go in to herd her out of there. And there he was on the ground.” Zach ended up spending 10 days in the ICU. Doctors said scar tissue from Zach’s previous open heart surgeries created an electrical abnormality that short-circuited his heart, causing the sudden cardiac arrest. And because Mike acted so quickly, he kept the blood flowing until paramedics got there saving not only his life but his brain function.