GAHANNA, Ohio — It was a seventh-grade girls basketball game at Columbus Academy. The game was going into overtime. Seconds mattered, but not on the clock.
“I could have been driving home that night,” said Richard Roll, who was officiating the game. “There would have been no one to save me there.”
Roll went down right after the buzzer. School staff and parents in the stands – acted fast.
“I thank God for that,” he said.
The stakes were high and a team of strangers saved his life.
“I never thought it was a heart attack because I thought it would hurt more,” he explained.
Now, two months later, Richard returned to Columbus Academy for the first time to thank those who saved his life.
The Mifflin Township Fire Department provided challenge coins for Richard to give to every person who played a role. The challenge ahead: to spread the message of CPR education and how vital it is.
Every coin was followed by an embrace. Richard wrapped his arms around the people who stepped up on the sidelines. People who prevented his family from suffering the greatest loss.
“You don’t know what you have until you lose it and obviously for two minutes I lost everything, but now I have everything back,” he said. “I’m so thankful for that.”
For Richard Roll – it’s not known right now if he will return to his duties as a referee. However – he is motivated to get healthy enough to return to the golf course by summer.