A nurse in Plantation is being hailed a hero after she noticed something unusual on a normal drive home from work.
Alison Seecoomar typically stops at the Chevron on University Drive about once a week to fill up on gas and is very familiar with Luis Sanchez Mendia who works there.
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But one day, she noticed something different with him and this changed his life forever.
“I see Luis all the time," said Seecoomar, who is a registered nurse at HCA Florida Westside Hospital. “That day he was basically having shortness of breath, saying he was having chest pains.”
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Mendia then asked Seecoomar for assistance.
"I say, "Excuse me, will you check my heart?' And she laughing because she thought I was playing around," Mendia said.
So she checked him with her stethoscope, heard a serious heart murmur, and told him to go to the hospital right away.
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Mendia ended up going to the emergency room at HCA Florida Westside Hospital just down the road where she works.
He was diagnosed with a critical heart condition and ended up having open heart coronary artery bypass surgery with an aortic valve replacement days later which saved his life.
The two saw each other for the first time again since that day in the gas station.
"She saved my life and she gave me one more opportunity because if I didn’t pay attention or she didn’t go there may be this is a different story," Mendia said.
Now, still recovering from his surgery and preparing to go home to his wife and two kids, Mendia calls Seecoomar his angel.
"For me, this is what I needed," Mendia said. "After today, my life changed, believe me."
Mendia knew something wasn't right with his heart,but had been putting it off for awhile.
Now they are both sharing this message to others.
"Everybody should take things a little more serious," Seecoomar said. "Don’t say 'Oh I’ll go to the ER' as a joke, take things a little bit more seriously toward your health."
Mendia says with this second chance and that he has a new lease on life and plans to spend more time with his family and going to church.
