Former Ventnor, NJ Mayor Survives Near Fatal Heart Rhythm Event

There can be no doubt that former Ventnor City, New Jersey Mayor Michael Bagnell believes the old expression that a dog is “Man’s Best Friend.”

This is an incredible real-life story that we have just learned about regarding Bagnell.

By choice, Bagnell is the immediate past one-term Mayor of Ventnor. He chose not to seek a second term.

Instead, Bagnell supported another ticket, Beth Maccagnano Holtzman, Tim Kriebel & Lance Landgraf, who have now each won two terms as Ventnor City Commissioners.

Bagnell was popular and he could have won a second term had he decided to run for reelection. Serving only one term is in keeping with Bagnell’s character. He was never a career politician. He was a career professional firefighter by trade.

With this brief background, now on to a truly remarkable story.

Bagnell is very fortunate to be alive today. He’s a modest man, but, he took to his Facebook account to reveal publicly what recently happened to him. It’s just extraordinary.

"To my FAMILY and FRIENDS; I hesitate to post this. I am not looking for sympathy, or well wishes. I am alright. However, I recently experienced a near-death experience. I have a bad electrical system in my heart, but the plumbing is fine."

Bagnell went on to explain that he collapsed two weeks ago due to his heart going into a fatal rhythm.

"The way I fell; {my hump and my beagle puppy saved me.} I landed flat on my hump [those who know … know what hump I mean] and just as I hit the floor, my Charlie Girl pounced on my chest; which acted like a Pre-Cardial Thump and put my heart into a normal rhythm," Bagnell wrote.

According to the post Bagnell had a pacemaker and AED inserted.