PERFECT TIMING: Westfield State Swimmer Shannon Fitzsimmons Saved Her Father's Life With CPR

Westfield State senior swimmer Shannon Fitzsimmons was coming off a record-breaking junior year, in which she set four school records, and was a member of an Owls team that had its best ever finish in New England's in the spring.  But this summer, on the verge of her senior season, Fitzsimmons turned what could have been a family tragedy into what appears to be yet another triumph for the Owls champion swimmer.

On July 18, the Andover native walked into the gym at which both she and her dad, Mike, work out.

"He had gone to the 5:15 class, and I was going to the 6:15 class," said Shannon.

"I saw him sitting in a chair and I said hi, but he didn't respond, said Shannon. " I turned to say hi to the trainers, and when I turned back I found him convulsing in a chair. I said 'Dad are you ok' and got no response from him and yelled for help from trainers.  He wasn't responding well to voice.  I called 911 and then we lost pulse and breathing on him, and we moved him to the floor and I started CPR on him and did it for two minutes until the paramedics arrived."

Mike was having a heart attack.

"I think when I first recognized what was going on I went in to lifeguard mode, I knew exactly what to do and almost forgot that it was my own father," Shannon said. "It wasn't until the paramedics came in and I thought 'how do tell my mom what's going on' and that's when it hit me and I started to process that I don't know what's going to happen."

 "I don't remember any of it," said Mike. "I remember sitting down to wait for Shannon to say hi since I knew she would be there in a few minutes, but I don't really remember anything until the next day."

"After they kicked me out of the ER, and I had seen him breathing on his own, I kind of knew he was going to be ok," said Shannon.

Mike eventually had quadruple bypass surgery, and is now well on the road to recovery.

"After they moved him out of the cardiac unit and into a regular room, the doctors were very reassuring that everything was going to be ok, because he was only 54, and there was no damage to his actual heart muscle," Shannon said.

Which can be directly attributed to Shannon's fast acting CPR.

"A lot of people asked who did CPR, and they told me I saved his life," said Fitzsimmons. "I got asked that so many times in those two weeks."

"She's a hero.  She saved his life," said Westfield State diver Monique Groux, a senior co-captain alongside Fitzsimmons. "She took matters into her own hands and did what she's trained to do as a lifeguard."

"The trainers who were there said Shannon was an absolute rock star," said Mike.  "They said she took complete control of the situation, and know exactly what she was doing. It's amazing that she was so composed.  I'm emotional to even have put her in that position.  I hit the lottery that day.  If I hadn't waited for her, I would have been in my car on the way home and there would have been no saving me."

Fitzsimmons lifeguards at the Ely Pool on the Westfield State campus during the school year, and at the Burbank YMCA in Reading, Mass. during the summer.

"I have known CPR since I was a sophomore in high school, before I was a lifeguard," said Fitzsimmons. "We had so many in-service trainings with the YMCA this summer, I had just done my CPR class four times.   So I knew what I was doing, which was a great thing.  But you never expect to do it on a real person."

"I teach life guarding classes and everyone thinks they will never have to do it," said Laing. "It takes a special person to do what she did. In my eyes, she's a hero. She was in the right place, at the right time for the right person."

"It's chaotic at the hospital," said Fitzsimmons.  It teaches you to be calm in chaotic situations, which I think I am pretty good at usually, especially after what we went through at the airport a few years ago. 

[Editor's note:  The Westfield State swim team was travelling through the Fort Lauderdale airport in 2017, at the time of the airport shooting. Many of the team members were in vans on the way out of the airport when the chaos began, but several were in the airport and took shelter with airport staffers and security, and several more were on a plane on the runaway and not allowed to deplane for hours until the site was deemed secure.]

"She's extremely mature, she's like an old woman at heart," said Groux good-naturedly of her friend.

"She's as mentally tough as anyone you will ever meet," said Mike of Shannon. "She's never been the biggest or the strongest athlete, but she will compete. When she was six or seven years old she would be there, talking to adults, and you can't believe and you couldn't believe you were having a conversation like that with a little kid."

Fitzsimmons' ability to be calm under pressure shows even in the interview. Shannon, an English and Secondary Education major, tells the story very calmly, having done so a number of times, with a maturity that belies her age. 

And speaks to what she's learned through competition in swimming as well.

"I think training definitely comes into it especially when you get to bigger meets, it really get your adrenaline pumping, you don't know what the outcome of the race is going to be, and need to try to remain calm and stay composed," said Shannon. "If you lose your cool the race isn't going to go well.  And it's the same with CPR."

"She's ready as a captain, as a swimmer, whatever she's going to do, she commits to," said Owls head coach Dave Laing. "When she transferred to Westfield, I never met her in person until she got on campus in September.  I knew she was a fast swimmer, but then I found out what a special person she is.  When she competes, she is really ready, and she's easy to talk to.  She's had a great three years (at Westfield, after transferring from Assumption College).  She's a good leader and the other women on the team really respect her.  She works well with everyone and it's all about team for her."

"She's always the first one to say good job, said Groux. "She won't let teammates beat themselves up if they have a bad performance, she's always looking ahead and is prepared for the next thing.  "She's great with everyone for that reason.  She's a captain and a leader."

The Recovery

"After my dad had been in the hospital for a few days, but right before his surgery, he said 'I'm going to make it to your swim meets this year," said Shannon. "And I'm like really, that's what you're thinking about right now?"

When Mike got home from the hospital, Shannon spent a lot of time with him.

"After I got home from work, we started walking around the cul de sac a couple times together, and then a week later down the street, a little further each day.  I think he's walking twice a day, up to about six miles a day.  He should be cleared to exercise next week," she said. 

Shannon Fitzsimmons with her father Mike, and sister Caitlyn.

"We have always been close, because we spent so much time in the car going to swim practices and meets with Shannon and her sister Caitlyn.  We were constantly together, and I knew what was going on with school, and personal life," said Mike.

"We were definitely close to begin with, but even more so when it came to swimming.  I think he has maybe missed one meet in my entire swimming career.  I think we have both had a little separation anxiety when I came back to school because we were so used to seeing each other every day over the summer," said Fizsimmons. "Three calls a day.  I think it was more him, worried about me.  He was concerned about the fact that I had seen what I had seen, but thankfully I have turned out OK.  We're definitely a lot closer now."

"As a father of a daughter myself, there is always a special-father daughter bond, and I am sure they are going to have it forever," said Laing.

"She's already texted me six times today, cracking jokes about being the youngest one at cardiac rehab," said Mike.

On To Swim Season

With all that was happening, Fitzsimmons said she didn't train as much as she planned.

"I definitely didn't swim as much as a should have," she laughed.  "It was a lot of time in July spent at the hospital, there were probably 3 weeks were I wasn't making it to the pool and the gym, because obviously that was much more important … but I think I am still at a point where I can perform well this season."

"If she was behind, she's right back up where she needs to be," said Laing.

The Owls season opens on Sunday, October 21 with a home meet against Simmons College.

"We all have a really positive outlook and really good talent, and we all recognize that," said Shannon. "Simmons, Roger Williams and Keene state will be tough to beat.  Our goal as a team is for each person to move up individually in our races, score more points and see what that outcome will be, which will rank us higher as a team."

The Owls sense of teamwork showed in their support for Fitzsimmons over the summer.

"I think Dave (Laing) was shocked," said Fitzsimmons after telling her coach what had happened. "But he was checking in with me every day.  Sue (Laing, Dave's wife and de facto team Mom) would check in too.  ('We'd be lost without Sue in Florida,' said Fitzsimmons) They're awesome.  Makes you realize that your team is more of a family."

"My teammates are amazing," said Fitzsimmons.  I don't know what I would do without them.  The number of e mails, texts, phone calls, the late night cry sessions when I didn't know what to do. Their support has been amazing. I think we are closer as a team now too.  Sometimes it takes something like this for a team to become close," said Fitzsimmons.

"It's like a completely different team this year, it's a family environment and everyone is competing and is very close, even the swimmers and the divers," said Groux.

"This year I am definitely swimming for him," said Fitzsimmons of her dad.  "It was a lot of pressure that he was definitely going to make it to my meets!  I'm excited, it's my last year, and my mom and dad both have invested a lot of time, money and effort making it to my meets and getting me to practices and I am grateful for all the they have done. Hopefully I can go out with a bang.  I'm looking for one more record – that 200 fly record."

"I'm looking forward to these last meets," said Mike. "I've been watching her swim since she was four or five years old. I've always enjoyed watching my daughters swim, and it will be an exciting year, and the championships are at M.I.T. and she has always swum well in that pool."

"She really wants to break the 200 butterfly record," said Laing, while rattling off the list of records Fitzsimmons does hold [nine in total].   "Ellicia (Santangelo) Romo '94 has held the record for 24 years, and has seen the records Shannon's been breaking.  Ellicia told me she would fly out (from Arizona) to see Shannon swim the 200 fly when she's going to break that record."

Here's hoping Ellicia makes it out east to see Shannon break the record. 

She couldn't meet a better person.