2 men honored for saving woman's life at Mission Viejo bar

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (KABC) -- It was an emotional day for Patricia Burr. The Orange County resident began crying as she hugged and thanked the two men who saved her life.

"I went to pay the beer... We were there like 30 minutes, that's all I remember," she said.

While out with a friend at High Park Tap House in Mission Viejo, Burr went into full cardiac arrest. Manager Jeff Upton and bartender Tim Nieblas rushed to her side and began performing CPR.

"Just trying to remember all the training that I had and it worked out, so I'm very happy about that," Upton said.

Paramedics arrived and rushed Burr to the hospital. Doctors put her in a medically induced coma for three days, until she made a full recovery. Burr says if the two men didn't act as quickly as they did, things could've been much worse.

"If they had even waited or stalled, or had a second thought, or backed away, I would be dead," Burr said.

On Tuesday, the Orange County Fire Authority gave Nieblas and Upton the Lifesaving Award, the highest honor for a civilian.

"By starting CPR immediately, that buys us the window to have the outcome we did, so those two individuals really saved her life," said firefighter-paramedic Michael Chesner.

Nieblas, who is studying to be a firefighter, hopes this serves as encouragement for others to get CPR certified.

"It could happen to anybody at any time, if everybody knows it, everyone's got a better chance to make it," he said.