Jim Kellgreen knows he's a lucky guy.

Yes, he had a severe heart attack that could have killed him. But he also had on his side that day, April 4, 2005, a determined and efficient group of people who worked hard to get him the help he needed.

Even though those people say they never expected to be honored as heroes, that's exactly what the Canfield Heartsaver Awareness Program did, gathering them together for a ceremony Thursday in Canfield City Council chambers.

There, Kellgreen himself presented them with engraved crystal trophies.

Don Hutchison, assistant chief of the Cardinal Joint Fire District and the leader of the heart program, explained Friday how each of them was a link in what the American Heart Association calls the Chain of Survival.

Each played a role

Herman Stack of Canfield ran for help after Kellgreen, of Boardman, collapsed outside one of the fairground buildings, Hutchison said. Bob Rimbey of Canfield, who is Kellgreen and Stack's co-worker in the maintenance department, called 911. Lori Jordan of Austintown, a cleaning-service provider, and Billy Arnaut, chief of the Canfield Fairgrounds Police Department, started CPR. Judy Heaven, a secretary in the fairgrounds office, ran to get the office's automatic external defibrillator.