Southold FD volunteers honored for saving stroke victim

Saturday night’s steak dinner at the Southold Fire Department was not like any other — it came with a diamond-shaped plaque memorializing the recent rescue that saved the life of part-time resident Jean Weber.

She and her husband were enjoying a weekend at their summer home June 5, when her husband, John, an ex-fire chief in Albertson, N.Y., noticed she’d been in the bathroom for quite some time.

“When I found her, she was breathing, but unresponsive, so I dialed 911,” Mr. Weber said Saturday. “It felt like the first responders were there in two seconds.”

Southold fire chief Bill Byrnes said the team called for a helicopter before stabilizing Ms. Weber and having her airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center, and that despite the severe stroke she’d had that day, she was up walking and talking after only one month.

“Without the first responders, I wouldn’t be here today,” Ms. Weber said. “My doctor said my miraculous recovery is due to the first respondents and the care that I received.”

The plaque handed out Saturday was from the Albertson Fire Department in Nassau County to the Southold Fire Department.

Ms. Weber’s husband, an ex-fire chief from Albertson, was one of a dozen Albertson firefighters present at the steak dinner.

Ms. Weber, who arrived at Stony Brook paralyzed and in a coma on June 5, said she is “just fine” now, aside from some weakness on her left side.