COON RAPIDS, Minn. -- Quick actions were recognized after strangers saved a Coon Rapids man suffering a sudden cardiac arrest.

In July, Tim Buck was dancing with his wife at the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park when he stopped, fell forward, and onto the dance floor.

Many kept dancing, while some noticed quickly, and the band on stage kept playing.

Responders began CPR, found an Automated External Defibrillator and used it on Tim, to get his heart beating again. An ambulance came and took him to Mercy Hospital where doctors told him some of his arteries were nearly 100 percent blocked. He underwent a quadruple bypass surgery the next day, and has been doing cardiac rehab every week since.

He's never known the faces of those who gave him another chance at life.

On Tuesday, Tim along his wife Fatima, walked to their car and drove across town.

"This is a very important day and I've been looking forward to it," Tim said while behind the wheel.

Waiting to see him were Kris Shields, Ryan Radtke, and Mark Snell, three strangers, who met Tim once before.

Tim recalled that day. "That was the last dance at the Coon Rapids Dam, and I was dancing, all of a sudden, I was dancing quite vigorously, and then suddenly, I started feeling pain in my chest, and that was the last thing that I knew and I was gone."

"I jumped in, checked his pulse, no pulse, started CPR," Shields said.

"I grabbed an AED out of my vehicle and I saw Tim lying there, so I gave it to my coworker, she strapped him on," park ranger Ryan Radtke said.

"(I) began doing heavy compressions til emergency services showed up," Mark Snell, who was at the dam with his son who was selling concessions for the Boy Scouts, said.

Their quick actions, along with a few others, revived Tim Buck's heart.

Nearly three months after Tim clinically died, and was brought back, he finally got a chance to meet his team of rescuers.

"Thank you very much, my God," Buck told Mark Snell after a hug.

"Good to see you standing," Snell said.

Buck, along with Fatima, their son, daughter-in-law and five grandchildren all had a chance to meet and thank the team of rescuers who helped Tim survive.

The rescuers were honored by the Coon Rapids city council this week for their quick actions that day.

"I appreciate each and every one of them and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for what they did," Buck said.

The Buck family and the responders say they hope everyone can learn from this successful outcome.

"Everybody should be trained in CPR, I think it's a definite must," Shields said.

"Act quick and learn CPR and have defibrillators around and know that this can really help save lives," Buck said.

Two of the rescuers were trained through Heart Safe Coon Rapids, a program led by officer Bryan Platz to get people trained in CPR and to get AED's out in the community.

We'll have an extended version of this story in the Dec. edition of Community Closeup.

To help the Buck family with high medical expenses, a benefit has been set up. For more information or to make a donation, click here or visit any Wells Fargo Bank and ask about the Tim Buck fund.

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