FRANK BUZZO: Everyone knelt down and started praying – This gym is a special place.
Manny Shaw, Erik Johnson and Dana Allen: “They are three angels that God sent to save me,” said Frank Buzzo after a near-death heart event at the gym.
BREVARD COUNTY • MERRITT ISLAND, FLORIDA — July 18 was supposed to be just another day in paradise for Frank Buzzo, but it quickly became too for the 70-year-old Cocoa resident, who is very, very lucky to be alive a day in hell
Buzzo and pal Erik Johnson had gone to the Merritt Island Health Club, a popular hangout that Buzzo frequented several times a week.
“Big Frank,” a world weightlifting champion, is a celebrity at the Merritt Island gym, which features photos of him lifting hundreds of pounds of weight.
At 6ft 1in and 265lbs, he’s an imposing figure that easily earned his nickname.
As the high school weightlifters that Buzzo had taken under his wing were preparing for a competition, Buzzo wanted to encourage them by example, so he decided to lift 425 pounds that July day.
Big mistake.
“Frank would have gone down without Erik’s quick action,” said Lou Manley, owner of the fitness club.
Although Buzzo has never been ill and was in top physical condition, he still overdid it and let his heart fail.
“I was involved and it was overkill,” Buzzo said. “It was like someone turned off the light.”
The future looked bleak for Big Frank, but luckily his friends weren’t about to let him go so easily, and luckily, the Merritt Island Health Club has not one, but two automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, at the facility.
“We think every gym should have at least one, but the state of Florida doesn’t require them,” Manley said. “All of our staff are also trained in CPR and basic life support.”
Health club team member Manny Shaw wasted no time getting Buzzo and the AED together.
An additional stroke of luck was that retired firefighter-turned-nurse Dana Allen was training at the time, and Allen, along with Shaw and Frank’s friend Erik Johnson, were desperate to save Frank’s life.
“These are three angels that God sent to save me,” Buzzo said.
Minutes – no, seconds – were precious because Buzzo was not breathing and had no pulse. Although sheriff’s office crews were on the scene very quickly, followed closely by a county rescue team, it probably would have been too late for him.
“I wouldn’t be here without the defibrillator,” he said.
Buzzo only returned to life after two defibrillator shocks.
“When EMS arrived he was conscious and breathing on his own,” Manley said.
After a few days at Health First Cape Canaveral Hospital, Buzzo was back home and returned to the health club in August, albeit with a much more moderate program that mostly involves coaching the high school athletes and light workouts.
“I don’t lift anything over 50 pounds,” he promised.
He had better not do that or he could be in big trouble.
“His wife told me if I saw him lift more than 50 pounds I should hit him with a stick,” Manley joked.
Manley acquired Fitness Club’s AEDs through Who We Play For, a non-profit organization that helps prevent sudden cardiac death in young athletes by providing affordable EKG screening.
Evan Ernst, co-founder and executive director of Who We Play For, was honored as a Central Florida Humanitarian in 2019 for his organization’s commitment, which resulted in a mandate mandating electrocardiograms for student athletes in Brevard.
The preventable death of 15-year-old Cocoa Beach High School student Rafe Maccarone, who died of cardiac arrest during a routine warm-up in 2007, fueled the organization’s founding.
Physician’s assistant Shawn Sima knows only too well how much an AED can make a difference since his daughter Stacey was saved by the device. Stacey Sima is now Heart Screening Director for Who We Play For.
The AEDs Sima Manley got for the health club are even better than the one that saved Stacey.
“They estimate the person’s height and know how much shock to deliver,” Sima said of the $1,400 device.
Who We Play For is working to change Florida law to require an AED in all gyms in the state.
“What happened to Frank happens a thousand times a day in the United States,” Sima said.
Although Frank Buzzo didn’t just have another day in paradise this past July 18th, he knows how lucky he is to be alive and among such good friends. A surveillance camera video of the incident shows how the more than 100 people at the gym that day responded to Frank’s plight.
“Everyone knelt down and started praying,” Buzzo said. “The gym is a special place.”
