Caroline Bryant
Editor-in-Chief
On April 8, 2024, junior Alex McManus and sophomore Brian von Suskil planned on driving to Starbucks early in the morning to grab breakfast while they applied for classes. Thinking the coffee house would be crowded, they decided to go to McDonalds instead.
This change would alter 71-year-old Terry Dennis’ life forever.
“Two older guys that came in, which ended up being Terry and then his friend Fred,” McManus said. “They had sat behind us and I didn’t think anything of it. And then I just, like, my back faced them and I heard something smack the ground. I turned around and then Terry had fallen out like, coffee everywhere, he just fell out of his chair. He was lying on the ground.”
With direction from Fred, McManus called 911, relaying Dennis’s condition to the emergency dispatcher. Von Suskil, returning from the restroom, saw Dennis on the ground. McManus pointed to Dennis, gesturing for von Suskil’s help. Von Suskil took Dennis’ pulse and checked if he was breathing or responsive.
“I was asking if he was responsive,” von Suskil said. “I was like … ‘Hey, are you here? What’s up?’ and he wasn’t any of those. So I looked at Alex and I was like, ‘CPR.’”
The two knew what to do being CPR and First Aid certified. Von Suskil completed respirations as McManus detailed a “play-by-play” of Dennis’ status. After about a minute, Dennis “shot up” and started agonal breathing, an irregular breathing response that can occur during medical episodes.
The 911 operator urged von Suskil to continue compressions. Emergency responders arrived at the scene around five minutes later, swapping out von Suskil to finish CPR and clear the scene.
While the event was not what they had expected, they were glad they were there to help.
“I mean … luckily Brian and I, we both have the knowledge and the skills to offer them in that situation,” McManus said. “And like, in what world, would we not [help] if we have the knowledge to. Even if the outcome wasn’t what it ended up being like, we still would have given him a shot.”
They’d then return to their lives until two months later. In his hometown of Sarasota for the summer, von Suskil would receive a phone call from an unknown number. When he answered, the caller identified herself as Brenda, Dennis’ wife. Crying, she told von Suskil that she found his number from the incident report they filed, thanking him and McManus for helping Dennis and notifying them that he lived.
McManus and von Suskil have been in contact with the Dennis family ever since. T. Dennis even took them out to dinner to show appreciation for that day.
Nearing the first anniversary of the event, von Suskil would receive another call, this time from Sergeant Robert McManus. R. McManus shared that he heard from Dennis about his and A. McManus’ heroic actions, and wanted to honor them.
On April 7, 2025, they’d attend a ceremony alongside police officers, EMTs and other civilians recognized for going above and beyond. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd awarded them the Sheriff’s Commendation and Commendation coin. Von Suskil’s coin has an engraved number 6,160, A. McManus 6,161, on their coins. These numbers commemorate that there were the 6,160th and 6,161th person to receive the coin from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
While they are thankful for the honor, it’s nothing they expected or believed they deserved. A. McManus and von Suskil agreed that Brenda’s calls and their dinner treat was more than enough.
“If anyone else was there, say like two other random kids were there, who even had the idea of CPR on their head, they probably would have done the same thing,” von Suksil said. “Nurses, doctors, they do it every day. And so I’m just kind of like, it’s nothing special. For me, I never really felt like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m cool.’”
And most of all, they were happy to save Dennis’ life just in time to select their classes.
