ROCKAWAY BEACH — A woman who suffered a near-fatal heart attack in St. Camillus Church during Palm Sunday Mass enjoyed a heartfelt reunion three months after the emergency with the men who helped save her life.

Dorothy Dugandzic, who has been recuperating at home from her March 29 ordeal, returned to St. Camillus Church in Rockaway Beach on June 26 to meet church organist James McCabe and firefighter Peter Haggerty and talk about the incident.

Dugandzic’s life was saved because McCabe and Haggerty used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to revive her after her heart stopped. Now, she said, she is sharing her story to raise awareness of the importance of having AEDs in churches.

“I think every building should have one,” she added.

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Dugandzic has no memory of her medical emergency because she lost consciousness and didn’t wake up until she was in the hospital.

“I don’t remember coming in here. I don’t remember sitting down. I don’t remember being worked on,” she said. “So, I’ve been looking for answers.”

During the reunion, Dugandzic was told about the heroics of McCabe and Haggerty after she collapsed in her church pew and fell to the floor just as the opening procession for Palm Sunday Mass was underway.

The two men said they felt the hand of God in the events that unfolded that day, especially since neither was supposed to be at St. Camillus Church.

McCabe, who is an organist for several churches, was not scheduled to be behind the keyboard at St. Camillus Church on Palm Sunday. And Haggerty, who is a parishioner at St. Francis de Sales Church, would normally not be at St. Camillus Church, but attended that day because he was accompanying his parents to Palm Sunday Mass.

In addition, McCabe, who ran out to his car to grab the AED, wasn’t even supposed to have the device. The Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) coach noted that having an AED on hand is part of his job when coaching kids, but he was supposed to return it to the CYO at the end of the season and had not yet done so.

Add to that the fact that St. Camillus Church had been slated to close in December 2025 but was given a reprieve by the Diocese of Brooklyn and allowed to remain open.

“I keep replaying the chain of events and the divine intervention that took place because it’s just unbelievable, McCabe said. “There are so many things that had to line up.”

“Everybody was very lucky that day,” Haggerty added.

Because Dugandzic has no memory of what happened to her, she had McCabe and Haggerty fill her in during their reunion.

Haggerty recalled that the church was crowded that morning and that he was standing in the back when he realized that there was a commotion on the left side of the church.

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When he looked closer, he saw that a woman had fainted and was being placed on the floor. Haggerty, who was off duty from the FDNY, immediately began administering CPR but could not detect a pulse.

“She didn’t have a heart rate when I checked,” he said.

At the same time, McCabe was playing the opening hymn, “All Glory Laud and Honor,” on the organ when an usher ran over to him to tell him to stop. He looked over, saw the commotion, and ran over to where Haggerty was trying to assist Dugandzic.

When Haggerty asked if the church had an AED, McCabe remembered that he had one in the trunk of his car.

“I ran out, got the AED, and handed the pads to Pete,” he recalled. “Once you have the pads on, it tells you that it’s analyzing the heart rhythm and then it’ll tell you, ‘Shock Advised’ or ‘No Shock Advised.’ And it said, ‘Shock Advised.’
“I just looked at Pete, and I’m like, ‘All right, we’re going to do this.’ ”

The AED started Dugandzic’s heart just as an ambulance was arriving.

Meanwhile, several parishioners were standing nearby and praying the rosary.

After Dugandzic was taken away by the ambulance, the Palm Sunday Mass continued, Haggerty returned to the back of the church, and McCabe returned to the organ.

The two men checked on Dugandzic through her family and were relieved to learn that she had survived.

“I still can’t believe the magnitude of what happened,” Dugandzic said. “Everyone’s telling me I got a second chance at life and there must be one more mission that God wants me to do.”