Almost a month removed from a heart attack that left him hospitalized, balladeer Peabo Bryson visited the first responders who saved his life so he could express his tremendous gratitude in person.
“I can’t thank you guys enough for guiding [my wife through performing CPR] because one mistake, one lapse, one panic and we’re having a totally different conversation,” he told WXIA-TV. “I’m here today because you guys are here.”
Bryson brought Tanya, his wife of nine years, along for his visit to Cobb County Fire Station 3, where she also received a Citizen Lifesaving Award for tending to her husband until first responders arrived.
“From the minute it happened, to the minute they found a pulse, to the minute he got better, the whole thing has been flawless and I can’t thank everybody enough,” Tanya told 911 Supervisor and Dispatcher Chris Hayes. “I was a mess and you guided me through it in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”
Since his health scare, Bryson told 11 Alive that he’s on the mend and already doing 50 sit-ups and 25 minutes on the treadmill a day to get back on track. But while he’s taken preventive measures to preserve his health, he’s forever indebted to the first responders who saved him.
“They can be the only thing standing between your children being orphaned and your wife widowed,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “All they do is try to save people. It’s a thankless job and they aren’t paid enough for what they do. Taking responsibility for another life is probably the greatest single service you can do for someone else.”
But since suffering his heart attack on April 27, one thing Bryson refuses to do is live in fear that it could happen again.
“That’s not spiritual,” he said. “Faith doesn’t work that way. God’s grace doesn’t work that way. You can choose fear or faith.”
The 68-year-old Grammy winner, who recently released his 21st studio album, Stand for Love, in December, is continuing to rest and recover at his Marietta, Ga., home.