When a cyclist’s heart stopped, his wife’s CPR training saved his life
March 27, 2026
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Get CPR trained. You could save a life
By Vicki Guinn
What began as an ordinary Sunday morning bike ride turned life-threatening for Dave Guettler and his wife, Tia Sherry, owners of River City Bicycles in Portland.
Experienced riders, the couple often chose quiet country roads with rolling hills and little traffic. That morning, they were riding near the Columbia River Gorge, training for their annual Portland-to-Skamania Lodge ride. Nearly 25 miles in, they pedaled past orchards, open fields and farmland.
“Dave and I were talking about where to have lunch because our legs were getting a little tired,” Tia said. “We were going back and forth between lunch plans and just taking in the beauty of the ride.”
Then everything changed.
Tia noticed Dave’s bike drift left. At first, she thought he was easing off the road to adjust a shoe clip or check a tire. But he didn’t slow down or look back.
“I yelled for Dave,” she said. “Then seconds later, I saw his bike slip into a roadside ditch, and the momentum flipped him over his handlebars. In what felt like a blur, he somersaulted over a six-foot wire fence and disappeared into a cow pasture.”
The message is simple: CPR saves lives. Our Legacy team is available 24/7, but you have to get here alive first. Get CPR trained. You could save a loved one or astranger.
- Dr. Andrew Tsen
Tia skidded to a stop, dropped her bike and ran to the fence. The wire tore at her hands and legs as she climbed over and dropped into the pasture, where she found her husband motionless in the grass.
“His skin was gray. His lips were blue. His eyes were staring. He wasn’t breathing. He had no pulse,” she said. “I knew immediately it was a medical emergency. I thought maybe he was choking, but when I checked his airway, there was nothing.”
In that moment, Tia shifted from wife to lifesaver. She straightened Dave’s body, unzipped his bike jersey and began CPR. Her phone was still mounted on her handlebars on the other side of the fence, but there was no time to retrieve it.
“I pushed hard and fast on his chest,” she said. “I kept looking over my shoulder, hoping someone would come. When I finally saw a person walking along the road above the ditch, I screamed, ‘Call 911.’ He yelled back that he already had.”
Tia continued chest compressions until she heard sirens.
First responders cut through the fence to reach Dave and placed automated external defibrillator pads on his chest.
“The first shock did nothing,” Tia said. “They shocked him again, and they got a pulse.”
Dave was airlifted to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, a Level I trauma center in Portland. After he was stabilized, cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Andrew Tsen performed a quadruple bypass. Doctors also implanted an ICD, a device that acts as both a pacemaker and defibrillator, to protect against another sudden cardiac arrest.
Dave spent two weeks in the cardiac intensive care and intermediate care units before beginning outpatient cardiac rehabilitation.
“I remember nothing about the accident,” Dave said. “Only tiny snippets from the ICU. What I know from the first responders and hospital staff is that Tia’s CPR saved my life. If she hadn’t known what to do, I wouldn’t be here.”
Immediate CPR is often the critical link between collapse and survival, Dr. Tsen said. It helps maintain blood flow to the brain and vital organs until advanced care can restore a heartbeat.
“The message is simple: CPR saves lives,” he said. “Our Legacy team is available 24/7, but you have to get here alive first. Get CPR trained. You could save a loved one or a stranger.”
Dave has no memory of the ride, the fall or the cardiac arrest.
“It was surreal,” he said. “I was the picture of health, cycling thousands of miles, no symptoms. And then I was gone.”
Today, Dave and Tia are riding again, though not as far as before.
“No more ice cream for me,” Dave joked. “But I’m filled with gratitude for my wife, the first responders, the staff at Legacy Emanuel and Dr. Tsen. Every breath is a gift.”
Dave has found a way to pay that gift forward. So far, 75 employees at River City Bicycles have completed CPR training.
“While enjoying Oregon’s beautiful scenery, they might one day save a life maybe even someone they love, like Tia did for me,” said Dave.
Visit the American Heart Association to find CPR training options
