Michael Taylor, a driver for FTC Transportation Inc., of Oklahoma City, has been named a Truckload Carriers Association Highway Angel for helping a man survive a medical emergency.

On Dec. 21, 2008, Taylor was driving from Atlanta to Nashville and had stopped at a truck stop to get lunch. A shivering man came in to eat and warm up from the 14-degree temperature outside.

The man told Taylor he used to be a truck driver, but had left the job after having heart surgery. The man moved to another table, but soon started breathing hard and leaning over. He swallowed what was apparently a nitro-glycerin pill.

At first, the man started to relax but suddenly he clutched his chest and fell to the floor.  Taylor, who used to be assistant chief of a rescue squad, began talking to the man, patting his cheeks and searching for a pulse. There was none.

Taylor and a truck stop employee began administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The man had no pulse and was not breathing, but after a minute or two of CPR, he revived momentarily. He then stopped breathing a second time, and Taylor and the employee again gave CPR and revived him.

By the time the paramedics arrived, the man was revived enough to talk.