The CPR Training That Saved WOOD TV’s Tom Hillen

Regular viewers of News 8 Daybreak or Eightwest might have noticed that a familiar face was missing recently.

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Tom Hillen, who covers traffic weekday mornings on WOOD TV and co-hosts EightWest, has been off the air for the past week, and it wasn't because he was on vacation.

Tom had a scary medical emergency and shared what happened with viewers to help spread awareness about the importance of knowing how to perform CPR in the event it's needed.

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Last week after filming EightWest, Hillen was at his desk in the office when he suddenly had a seizure

During the medical emergency, he stopped breathing and went into sudden cardiac arrest; coworkers Rachael Ruiz and Elisia Alonso quickly got him to the ground, called 911, and started Hands-Only CPR.

Paramedics arrived on the scene quickly and rushed him to Trinity Health, where he underwent tests including EKG, CT scan, and MRI; so far, doctors have not found a clear cause for the seizure.

Thankfully Hillen is doing better and was able to return back to WOOD TV this week.

I'm so thankful that he's doing better, and that his coworkers knew what to do when the emergency happened.

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If you're not sure how to do Hands-Only CPR or want a refresher, the American Heart Association has a lot of great resources to learn more.