Teen with CPR Training Gives Dad a Little More Time with His Family

“I was already visiting him in the hospital before we really even knew each other,” she said. “It didn’t really faze me. To be honest, I think I was in denial for a long time.”

The couple met in 2004 and married in 2009. Unable to work due to his heart disease, Mark became Mr. Mom. “He raised the kids, he did all the cooking — not much of the cleaning,” laughed Suzana. “He was always there for the kids and had the opportunity to spend so much time with them and did not ever let his illness stop him.”

He coached boys’ baseball for 16 years, retiring in 2023 after his team won the championship. He was put on oxygen full time in 2022 when his heart failure worsened, but it didn’t stop him from riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle — oxygen tank in tow.

“He packed in more than any of us will in a normal lifetime,” Suzana said. “I thought he was doing great. He always pushed through … until he just couldn’t do it anymore.”

After being revived on February 22, Mark was taken to Lowell General Hospital, intubated and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. On March 3, he was transferred to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. On March 8, he was strong enough to breathe on his own and be taken off the ventilator.

“We were concerned about his brain, but he came all the way back — he knew who we were, he knew everything, no issues at all,” said Suzana. “His sense of humor came back. And he was able to thank Nate for saving his life.”

He asked Suzana to bring all of the Easter stuff to the hospital so he could fill eggs for the kids. The doctors were talking about moving Mark to a rehabilitation facility when things took a turn for the worse. He began to swell and the doctors could not get his heart failure under control. Suzana, who had visited him every day, was still in denial.

“I figured we are in Boston — best hospitals around — they’ll figure it out,” she said. “On April 8, he called me himself and said that he wasn’t doing well. I did not know what that meant.”

When she arrived at the hospital, the doctors told her his kidneys were failing because his heart was so weak. “We didn’t have much time at that point,” Suzana said. On the morning of April 10, having stayed at the hospital overnight, she left early to go home and bring the kids to school.

“I never saw him again,” she said. “When I left, he was awake and when I got back, he was sleeping and never woke up.”

Mark Greenwood was 51 years old. Suzana said she is grateful for Nate’s CPR training because “it gave us a few more good weeks with Mark.” “Nate knew that dad had been through a lot, he was at peace with knowing that dad was no longer suffering,” she said. “Knowing that he came back to us was enough for him.”