INDIANAPOLIS — Fifty-two-year-old James Hall has played basketball all his life. Now, he's sharing the game with his 3-year-old grandkids.
"Having a second opportunity to essentially return to a normal life after what I went through is not very common and I try not to take that for granted," said Hall.
Three months ago, Hall was playing basketball with some friends at a local high school.
"Between games we were checking up the ball. I said something to the effect of, 'Hold up, I need a minute,' and went face first on the court. Right at the free throw line," said Hall. "Broke my nose, broke out a couple of teeth which I’m still waiting to get repaired. I was essentially dead for 10 minutes."
Hall suffered a massive heart attack.
"I really thought I saw him die just because of the condition he was in, and his eyes were just so glassed over. It just looked like nobody was even there," said James' nephew, Benjamin Hall, who was right there.
"We were mainly concerned with all the blood coming out of his mouth, didn’t want him to choke on it," Benjamin said. "We had him on his side and he’s kind of gasping for air.
Hall was rushed to Ascension St. Vincent Hospital where he stayed for 20 days, eventually undergoing quadruple bypass surgery.
"It’s eye opening, the things I had done my entire life that probably led up to that," said Hall. "I exercise on a semi-regular basis, play basketball a few times a week. My diet was horrible."
Hall said he was unconscious on the gym floor for around 10 minutes, and nobody performed CPR. He hopes anybody reading this takes the time to learn that potentially life-saving skill.
"Not only get trained, but practice it. Because if you don’t practice it, just like anything else, when you get into a dire situation where you might need to use it," said Hall. "There's like a 12% survival rate when you have the type of cardiac arrest that I did outside of a hospital and then when you look at every minute CPR isn't performed, your odds go way down."
Hall is counting his blessings, but not counting out a return to the court.
"This coming Tuesday, all restrictions will be lifted, so I'll probably get to start playing basketball again reasonably soon," he said.
(Editor's Note: This story has been edited to correct James Hall's name.)