TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - It is a somber anniversary for the city. One year ago, on Feb. 1, 2015, Mayor D. Michael Collins went into cardiac arrest during a heavy snowstorm. He died five days later in the hospital.
Almost two weeks ago, WTOL 11 shared our emotional interview with his widow, Sandy Drabik Collins. She said she still re-lives parts of the tragic
events of last year.
She remembers when she first rushed to the University of Toledo Medical Center to be by his side after his cardiac arrest and the difficult days afterward, as nurses and doctors tried to save him.
In an excerpt from the interview that hasn't been shared yet, Drabik Collins said, "The odds are so much against survival if you have cardiac arrest, sudden cardiac arrest, outside of a hospital. They're really low in the first place so I knew they were low and I also knew that we didn't know how many minutes had elapsed."
Drabik Collins said doctors had frank conversations with her, saying further treatment would not help. Mayor Collins then passed away on Feb. 6.
Still Drabik Collins remains proud that Toledoans held CPR clinics in her husband's honor to make sure more people know what to do in an emergency. She also saved news coverage of the Mayor during his term and said she watches it from time to time, as well as phone messages people have saved for her, of Mayor Collins leaving well wishes for them.
"They are always uplifting. And they were maybe of a Christmas or some other time, but they're always about the person, like I hope your kids are doing well or of someone was sick. And so they've saved them, so I hear," she said.
Sandy Drabik Collins said she planned to attend mass on the anniversary of her husband's "intention."
There will be another similar mass Saturday at 5 p.m. at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral on the anniversary of his death.
