WENTZVILLE. Mo. — Wentzville Fire Capt. Tommy Shine left the hospital on Monday as family and friends cheered and prayed for him after facing deadly heart complications.
The Wentzville Fire Department shared a video on Facebook of Shine leaving the hospital on a gurney. Shire fell in October, which revealed to doctors he was in need of heart surgery.
One night after receiving heart surgery, his wife Brittany Shine told FOX 2 his heart stopped beating and he was not expected to survive.
“We’re talking about a guy who jumped in a frozen lake to save someone’s life,” Wentzville Fire Department Chief Steve Mosher told FOX 2. “It’s no surprise to me that he’s fighting as hard to save his own life.”
In January 2015, Shine jumped into icy water to save John Smith, a teen who was trapped underwater for nearly 15 minutes in Lake St. Louis. Shine pulled him into safety.
Smith was in a coma but made a full recovery after many prayers and community support. The miraculous rescue fueled the movie “Breakthrough.”