The off-duty fireman who helped revive a heart-attack victim in the stands during the Giant-Viking playoff game was thanked yesterday – with two coveted Super Bowl tickets.
Firefighter James Slevin became a hero during Sunday’s game at Giants Stadium when he dashed from his seat during the Big Blue victory and used his training to help a man in trouble nearby.
“Right after the Giants scored their first touchdown, there was a gentleman in the row in front of us who was screaming for his friend, ‘Get help, get help!'” said Slevin, a five-year FDNY veteran who was honored at a City Hall ceremony by Mayor Giuliani yesterday.
“So I immediately rushed over to him.”
Slevin, 28, helped drag the man, who was turning blue and losing his pulse, out of his seat to help him.
Slevin asked security officials to call an ambulance. When they arrived minutes later, Slevin helped medics use a defibrillator on the man, who was revived after four attempts.
The man was taken to Meadowlands Hospital’s intensive-care unit, and Slevin resumed watching the game, which clinched the Giants’ Super Bowl berth.
Slevin said he was told by hospital officials yesterday that the man was conscious and had been taken off a respirator.
He said he hopes to speak to the man when he’s better.
Giuliani praised Slevin’s “selfless actions” as “the very best we have to offer.”
The firefighter, who works out of Manhattan’s Ladder Co. 7, was treated to an all-expenses paid Super Bowl trip by officials at Modell’s Sporting Goods.
Giants coach Jim Fassel also sent Slevin an autographed football, with a message reading: “To James: You’re a real giant, and a real hero.”
Slevin wouldn’t say whom he’s taking to the Super Bowl – but he had a prediction for the game:
It’ll be a “31-17 Giant victory,” he said.