Jodi and Bryan Sadleir have been married for 45 years and can typically be found spending time with their big family.
"We have seven grown, married children and 26 grandchildren," said Jodi Sadleir.
But when Bryan went to the 24 Hour Fitness gym in Escondido to workout Friday, something unpredictable happened.
"Everybody was saying you are such a lucky man," Jodi recalled. "They said that man saved your life."
'That man' being Carlos Pena, a personal trainer working at the gym that day.
"I heard this loud thud," Pena recalled. "As I run to the edge of the gym, I see this man just completely in the fetal position. The treadmill is still moving on his head. He's trembling and foaming at the mouth. His eyes were completely unresponsive."
Carlos said he started doing chest compressions. At first, he could not feel a heartbeat and he feared the worst.
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"Then I could feel his heart filling," said Pena. "But when the energy and electricity came into his heart, that was the craziest experience because as it pushed up into my hands I immediately felt it spread into his entire body."
Jodi said Bryan had a blockage in his heart that caused him to blackout.
"The doctors told me if there was anywhere else he could be beside the emergency room it would be the gym," said Jodi. "Because there are so many well-trained people there who know just what to do."
The Sadleirs said they are grateful to Pena and consider him part of their family now.
"Carlos will always be dear to us," said Jodi. "We're never going to let him go. He's a hero in our eyes."
