Duke Field, Fla., Nov. 3, 2003 (AFPN) -- A craving for bacon and eggs one recent Saturday morning put a 919th Special Operations Wing reservist in the right place at the right time to save the life of a man in the parking lot where she went to shop for breakfast.

Senior Airman Sonya Brownhill, a resource manager for 5th Special Operations Squadron aircrew training at nearby Eglin Air Force Base, hopped in her car at about 5:30 a.m. to make a quick trip to a convenience store. When she arrived at the store, she saw a woman in a vehicle yelling for someone to help her husband who was unconscious in the passenger seat of a sport utility vehicle.

"She was yelling that her husband was having a heart attack and that someone should call for help," Brownhill said.

Brownhill saw another man, a bystander in a mechanic's uniform who wished to remain anonymous, already at the scene pushing on the man's chest. She grabbed her gym bag and ran to assist. She and the bystander pulled the unconscious man from the vehicle for better access.

"As soon as his back made contact with the concrete, I started trying to clear his throat to open his airway and began pumping on his chest," Brownhill said.

The bystander began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. After one good breath, the unconscious man started bubbling from the mouth. Brownhill said that made the bystander very uncomfortable and he hesitated.

"He didn't seem sure what to do, so I just took over,” she said. “The only thing going through my mind was that (the unconscious man) needs to breathe. If I stop, he is not going to be breathing.Firefighters arrived moments later.

Capt. Craig Keyes, from the Florosa Fire Department and also the business operations flight commander in the 16th Medical Support Squadron, Hurlburt Field, was the first person from the fire department to arrive on the scene.

Keyes said that when he arrived he saw a male patient lying on the ground with two persons performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a procedure used to artificially circulate blood to vital organs to those whose heart suddenly stops beating. Brownhill was performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he said.

"It makes me feel good that he at least got some oxygen and maybe he'll be able to hug his grandbabies next week," said Brownhill.

Three days after the life-threatening event, the patient, an Air Force retiree, was sitting up in his hospital bed, watching television, and talking on the phone, Keyes said.

"The selflessness demonstrated by Senior Airman Brownhill to assist someone in need made a huge difference in the lives of a family she never met before,” Keyes said. “I was proud it was an … airman who was able to do it!" (Courtesy of Air Force Reserve Command News Service)