Naplate first responders rewarded for saving life of Downers Grove man

It’s been a couple of months now since the Naplate police and fire departments responded to a life-or-death situation to absolute perfection.

And Dave Gonda is still here to say just how perfect their work was.

On Tuesday, the night the Naplate first responders were conducting their annual drive-thru pork chop fundraiser, Gonda and his wife, Janet Haines-Gonda, showed their appreciation for the departments’ lifesaving actions with a donation of $7,000.

“This is amazing,” Naplate Police Chief Joel Smith said after reading the accompanying note. “Thank you.”

The story of how that donation was earned was even more so.

It was Wednesday, Aug. 28, and the Gondas, residents of Downers Grove, had come to town to check out the construction of their new house being built in the Heritage Harbor marina. Because it was the day before their fifth wedding anniversary, they decided to have dinner and went to the Casa Mia Restaurant in Naplate.

This is absolutely what we got into this business for. When bad things happen, this is what we’re here for.”

—  Naplate Police Chief Joel Smith

But while they were there, without any warning or sign, Dave suffered a major heart attack.

“I was fine. We were talking about the restaurant, how nice it was, then whammo,” Dave said. “There was absolutely no warning, but then I dropped, and I don’t remember anything for the next three days. We try to take care of ourselves, eat right, exercise, but you just never know.”

When he coughed and slumped to his left, his wife immediately reached over, laid him on the floor and started CPR, all the while shouting for someone to call 911. That person was their waitress, Sarah Nanouski.

Smith, working for the part-time police department on what was supposed to be his night off, was in his vehicle on routine patrol only a block away when the emergency call came in.

He rushed to the restaurant, arriving only more than a minute later, to find Gonda unconscious and barely alive, so he took over CPR.

Just seconds after that, they were joined in the effort by Naplate firefighters Calym and Noah Setser, who immediately went to work using their emergency medical technician training. Using a Lucas CPR machine to maintain compressions, they actually had to defibrillator Gonda twice before Ottawa Fire Department emergency medical services personnel arrived.

An ambulance took Gonda to OSF St. Elizabeth, where he was intubated and stabilized enough that he could be flown to OSF St. Francis in Peoria. It was the last flight out before the service was shut down because of incoming bad weather.

After the helicopter left, Smith drove Haines-Gonda back to Naplate, punched out at work and took her to Peoria himself so she could be there with her husband.

Gonda was diagnosed with cardiac sarcoidosis – tiny collections of immune cells that form granulomas in the heart tissue and interfere with normal function – and spent three days in the cardiac intensive care unit. Eventually, he had a mini-defibrillator installed in his chest and, after 11 days, he was released.

“The cardiac program down there in Peoria is phenomenal,” Haines-Gonda said, “but this whole time, doctors have been telling us that it was what was done for him in the field, in the first few minutes, was what saved his life. We were told the survival rate in a situation like that – in a rural community so far from a hospital – is like 3% to 5%, and of the small percentage that live, 70% have brain damage from being without oxygen.

“Our physician friends all say that this is nothing short of a miracle. Thankfully, all the stars were aligned and had these wonderful people ready to help us when we needed them most. It’s amazing.”

It was not lost on Smith and the couple just how fragile the timeline that night really was.

“It’s crazy that all the stars were aligned,” Smith said. “I wasn’t supposed to be on, but I was just a block away, Calym was supposed to be away at school, but they were painting his dorm room on a weekday, so he was here. It was an unfortunate situation, but the timing of it all coming together was crazy.

“In a small town of 600 [residents] like Naplate, there isn’t a lot of crime, but when this call came in, it got my adrenaline going. … This is absolutely what we got into this business for. When bad things happen, this is what we’re here for.”