Reborn to Save More Lives

Dennis Marsh sat behind the wheel of “Big Red” in a Laguna Beach fire station Tuesday morning, breathed deeply, turned the ignition, let out the clutch and took off with sirens blaring.

“Nothing to it,” the 42-year-old firefighter yelled.

Nothing to it for most firefighters.

But for a man brought back from apparent death six times after a massive heart attack and then told he would never be able to return to the job he loved, the first day back at work driving Engine No. 3 was nothing short of exhilarating.

“I’m like a little kid,” he said before leaving on a training session. “You can’t beat the thrill of driving this thing.”

His colleagues at the fire station in the city’s Top of the World neighborhood believe Marsh has been reborn. Even Marsh will tell you he has undergone a metamorphosis.

Fighting fires and saving lives came to an abrupt halt for Marsh on Dec. 1, 1997, when he collapsed in his Aliso Viejo home in front of his wife and children.

Paramedics had to revive him several times at his home and on the way to Saddleback Memorial Hospital, and paramedics declared him dead each time before reviving him, Dr. Michael Moran, his cardiologist, said Tuesday.

Marsh went into cardiac arrest again at the hospital, Moran said, and doctors declared him dead. Minutes later, they got his heart beating again, he said.

“Basically, everything he had done to people was being done to him,” said Marsh’s wife, June. “The paramedics kept saying, ‘This guy must really want to live because he keeps fighting to come back.’ ”

Her husband has no memory of the heart attack or any emergency procedures, she said.

Doctors replaced sections of two arteries during double-bypass surgery. Afterward, doctors told him that returning to work wasn’t an option. He would have to take an early retirement.

But Marsh had other plans. He said he made a deal with his doctors to get on an intensive workout schedule, change his diet and lose weight.

“I’ve been in the business of saving lives since I was 17,” Marsh said, and he gave notice that he wasn’t about to leave it. “Once you’re in and start living this lifestyle, it’s like your blood.”

Marsh started running, swimming and lifting weights seven days a week. He gave up cheeseburgers for turkey burgers, and his 40-inch waist firmed to a size 36.

“I knew if I did what my doctors told me that one day I would be able to come back here,” Marsh said. Now “I look like a firefighter should look.”

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During his convalescence, Marsh spent more time than ever with his three children. With his wife taking a job as a teacher, he had to take on household duties, like making sure the children did their homework. After awhile, they couldn’t wait for him to get back to work.

“I don’t think it was that fun for them to have me home for so long,” he said.

Meantime, the medical bills were mounting for the veteran firefighter. Though he had worked in Laguna Beach for only eight of his 20 years of firefighting, residents and artists rallied to help him.

Paintings and other artwork were donated for a silent auction to help offset the medical bills. The fund-raisers paid off about $10,000, and insurance paid the rest.

“In a way, it was surprising that the community responded the way they did,” said Fire Capt. Jim Dempsey. “They were very supportive of a guy they barely knew.”

Having been out for so long, Marsh admits he’s nervous about making mistakes. “I just don’t want to put anyone’s life in danger or screw something up, in case I forget how to do something,” he said.

But Dempsey said that seeing Marsh in “Big Red” on Tuesday made it seem as if the firefighter was never gone.

“We’ve got this nickname for Dennis,” Dempsey said. “We call him Bobo--the clown you punch that always bounces back.”