The stroke victim who held out for eight hours while a heroic 911 dispatcher tried desperately to locate her is brain dead, The Post has learned.
Mary Thomas, 54, a housekeeper who was struck ill in her employer’s Upper East Side home, was on life support at Lenox Hill Hospital late yesterday, her longtime boyfriend said.
“She’s not going to make it. They just told me. She’s going to die,” said the weeping man, who asked to be identified only as James.
“Her brain is still swelling. They said it’s about the worst stroke you can have. They say she’ll never wake up. They’ve sent for a priest.”
Thomas collapsed last Monday afternoon and called for help from her cellphone but could not say where she was.
Because she was using a cellphone, FDNY dispatcher Joann Hilman-Payne could only narrow down her location to the area near various cell towers in the Upper East Side.
Despite this, she stayed on the phone with Thomas until 8:30 p.m., keeping the line open until help arrived. Thomas’ boyfriend wept when he heard the details.
Hilman-Payne and the FDNY yesterday declined to comment.
Sitting vigil at Thomas’ bedside, James at one point took her hand and begged, “Move your eyes, baby.”