'Do not take anything for granted:' Basketball player whose heart stopped reunites with first responders

RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) -- Tuesday night began like many have in the past at Reynolds Coliseum -- a place known for the legends of Wolfpack basketball.

But this night was not about NC State vs. any other team. It was about honoring Wake County paramedics who had given Tyvoris Solomon and others a second chance at life.

Nearly six months ago, Solomon suddenly collapsed and went into cardiac arrest during a game at PNC Arena between his South Carolina State Bulldogs and NC State.

"Do not take anything for granted," Solomon said. "You never know when it's your time."

First responders Greg Rodevick, who's been with Wake County for 10 years, and Rich Eldridge, who has worked in the county for nine years, were at the arena that night and jumped in to do CPR. They also used an AED to bring him back to life.

"Everybody came together," Rodevick said. "If everybody wasn't doing their part that night then we wouldn't have had the same outcome. We're all out there doing this every day. It just so happens it was us in front of the camera that night."

Rodevick and Eldridge among hundreds of first responders in the arena Tuesday for "A Celebration of Success and Survival." It's all a part of National EMS Week. More than 100 survivors aided by Wake County paramedics were in attendance.

"You don't expect it to happen at an event like this," said Eldridge. "You don't expect it with an elite athlete but you just kind of have to do what you have to do and hope for a good outcome."

Solomon's mother, and his coach, Murray Garvin, were also there Tuesday. Garvin doesn't like to remember that night in December.

"Being the head coach, you never prepare for adversity like that," Garvin said. "I'm just fortunate to be here. There are not many times in life that you get to witness a miracle before your eyes and that day, we all witnessed a miracle."

As part of the event, members of the audience came out to demonstrate "hands-only CPR" on dummy dolls.