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Gary Reeley knows he began the morning of July 30 building a deck in Lanham with an irritating knot in his throat but only paramedics Stephen Chagnon and Christopher Harrison can fill in the rest of the story of how the knot not only closed the Bowie carpenter's throat but nearly took his life.

County Fire Chief Lawrence H. Sedgwick gave the men a county Fire and EMS Department Emergency Services Award Tuesday at the Landover Hills Fire and EMS Department for saving Reeley's life. At the time, Harrison had just begun administering advanced life support services.

"Chris had been a paramedic for about two weeks so he was basically my intern," Chagnon said. "That morning we discussed he would make the decisions to the best of his ability."

Both Chagnon — nicknamed Shaggy — and Harrison, then stationed out of the Glenn Dale Fire and EMS Station, responded to the Lanham home where Reeley, 56, collapsed after making the 911 call. They gave him emergency medication and revived him from cardiac arrest after his body went into anaphylactic shock following the allergic reaction.

"God was watching over me that day and I just thank the Lord for Chris and Shaggy," Reeley said.

Harrison said they move between both stations every three months to give medics a chance to work at stations with lower numbers of calls for service such as Glenn Dale and higher volumes such as Landover Hills. Both arrived at Landover Hills in September and expect to return to Glenn Dale in January.

Chagnon said Reeley could only get one word out for every three or four breaths and Harrison said they gave him emergency doses of Benadryl and epinephrine to stop the reaction. The situation worsened when Reeley went into cardiac arrest. They used a defibrillator to shock electricity into Reeley's chest. For 20 minutes during the ambulance ride, they performed CPR and got a pulse shortly before arriving at Lanham's Doctors Community Hospital.

Chagnon and Harrison waited at the hospital for an update on Reeley's condition and were relieved to know he suffered no brain or heart damage.

"By the time we left, he's sitting up talking," Harrison said. "The breathing tube had been removed."

Reeley's daughter, Rachael Reeley, 16, of Bowie said she was sleeping at home when her mother burst through her door to say her father was hospitalized. A drowsy Rachael said it took her a few minutes to register the severity of her father's condition.

"While we were on the way to the hospital, he had gone into anaphylactic shock and he had died but they revived him," Rachael said. "I thought he had a heart attack."

Rachael said her father was released from the hospital in four to five days but two weeks later returned because his body broke out and his upper lip swelled. When he relapsed again a week later, her family determined it could be new pressure-treated lumber he worked with daily.

However, Reeley said doctors still are trying to diagnose what exactly causes his allergic reaction. In the meantime, he takes antihistamines and steroids daily. He also carries an EpiPen with an emergency dose of epinephrine which relaxes muscles and increases oxygen flow to the body.

"I'm just very thankful for these two boys," Rachael said. "They gave me my father back. There's no words I can say to express my gratitude. I think they should get a pay raise instead of an award."

Reeley and Rachael have visited Chagnon and Harrison several times since July 30 at the Glenn Dale and Landover Hills stations to express their appreciation.

"We're tickled to death to have Gary with us," Chagnon said. "We're happy to see him come through the door every time he comes visit us."

Sedgwick said he is particularly appreciative of both Harrison and Chagnon's efforts to revive Reeley from cardiac arrest because his own father has had many heart problems requiring double bypass surgery, pacemakers and stents to increase blood flow.

"That's just a small representation of what we do every day and we'll always continue to do what's right for the community," Sedgwick said.

Reeley said there were no words he could think of to thank Chagnon and Harrison and thanks the Lord he has another day to live.

"I have a whole new outlook on life," Reeley said. "The little things don't mean as much anymore."

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.