Surprise Squad gifts vacation money to woman who saved husband’s life

PEORIA, AZ (Surprise Squad) -- Terrie works at a dental office in Peoria. Both she and her coworkers had no idea that 3TV’s Gibby Parra and the Surprise Squad would walk into their lobby unannounced recently. Nobody there knew what to expect when Parra asked if he could speak with her.

“The reason I’m here is I understand that recently you and your family have gone through something,” Parra explained. “Your husband kind of had an incident there. What can you tell me about what happened?”

“At the time, we were living in Vegas,” Terrie replied. “And he had cardiac arrest and I had to do the CPR stuff, and luckily, we had a wonderful 911 operator that helped us, and he’s alive today.”

“How did you even know that he was going through whatever he was going through at the time?”

“I just happened to have gone to bed,” Terrie said. “He wasn’t feeling well. I reached over and he didn’t feel right. He didn’t feel like he was breathing. So, I checked it all out and turned on the light, and that’s how I found out. It was pretty scary.”

“And at that point, you had the CPR; you called 911,” Parra said. “You were able to keep him there.”

“It was the 911 operator that helped me,” Terri explained .”And we didn’t get breathing until the paramedics arrived. They actually had to get him revived. I couldn’t do it on my own.”

“You have one income now,” Parra asked. “Because you’re having to do it on your own. You’re here working because he’s at home now.”

“He is, yes,” Terrie confirmed. “He’s doing good, really good, actually.”

“Just to have to go through something like that, tell me about that, how it’s changed your family.”

“Well, it’s changed a lot,” Terrie said. “We’ve gone from living the life we’re used to, to living a little bit more paycheck to paycheck. And it’s tough, but you know what? We’re making it through, and I’m just grateful he’s still here.”

“Well, I did tell you when I walked in I’m with the Arizona’s Family Surprise Squad, thanks to our Valley Toyota Dealers. The reason why I’m here is because we wanted to give you a surprise. We understand you like the beach. We understand you like theme parks,” Parra said as he handed Terrie an envelope. “So we wanted to give you $3,000 for you to go on this California vacation.”

“Oh my gosh,” Terrie gasped. “I am like, I can’t even open the paper. I’m so nervous. Thank you! Thank you so much. You guys are wonderful. You know, it was kind of funny because we always make sure that no matter what we do, we’re always watching Channel 3. That’s what he’s doing most of the time. When I call him on my lunch break, I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ He’s like, ‘I’m getting ready to watch the news, I’m ready for the news.’ This is exciting. I’m so excited.”

“This is why we’re here because he nominated you,” Parra said. “He nominated you, and he said, ‘Look, this woman saved my life.’ Obviously, he had already pledged his life to you, but he knows you went above and beyond.”

“I’m speechless,” Terrie said as she hugged Parra. “Kind of at a loss for words because I wasn’t expecting this. So I don’t know what to say but thank you guys so much and thanks to Toyota.”