PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Doctors are calling it miraculous that a man suffering from a heart attack on Peanut Island defied all odds.
They are thanking two good Samaritans trained in CPR for quickly jumping into action.
WATCH BELOW: 'Learn CPR, learn AED,' Bruce Brown says after surviving heart attack
WPTV's Kayla McDermott sat down with the patient who doctors thought would not survive the night and the people who fought to keep him alive.
“God was on that beach with, Bruce,” Matt Taylor said.
Traveling across the state to visit Peanut Island Bruce Brown never thought this sandy beach would nearly be his death bed.
“We had snorkeled for about an hour,” Tiffany Brown said. “It was terrifying. I thought he was gone.”
Brown has a history of heart problems and has type 2 diabetes. While at the beach, he began suffering from cardiac arrest.
Luckily, the man sitting beside him, Matt Taylor, was on the island as well.
“He was foaming at the mouth, I realized he was getting bad,” Taylor said.
Relying on his military background, Taylor took action.
“We started chest compressions, and it seemed like forever,” he said.
Taylor spend 45 minutes pumping on Brown's chest as others on the island gathered several nurses, doctors, and those certified in CPR, to help.
“We gotta keep him alive,” Taylor said.
“I got down there and I prayed, and I felt God so strong,” Tiffany Brown said.
They said they all worked hard to keep Brown alive.
“He went out on us three times,” Taylor said.
Thankfully an AED brought him back each time as his wife, Tiffany, had to watch.
“I told him, I'm not ready,” Tiffany Brown said. “I said, if you see the light, you're turning around.”
Eventually, Riviera Beach Fire Rescue, commandeering a water taxi, took Bruce Brown to the mainland, into an ambulance and then to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.
“Odds of surviving was very low,” a doctor said. “There's definitely some superpower working on this whether we call it God or whatever belief we have, but definitely this was not human.”
However, Bruce Brown pulled through against all odds and he has no brain damage.
“I'm above ground and I'm still in one piece,” he said.
Thanks to the people sitting around him who are all thankful they are certified in CPR.
“They've done a great job of putting me back together,” Bruce Brown said. “Learn CPR, learn AED. I mean, I was down 45 minutes. Don't be afraid to get involved.”
