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A quiet night at home turned into a life-or-death emergency for Anna Rodgers, a 36-year-old Mocksville resident who survived a life-threatening emergency in the early morning hours of March 5 – less than 24 hours after undergoing major surgery.
Thanks to the quick actions of her husband and sister, who recognized the signs of distress and called 911, emergency help arrived within minutes.
Davie County First Responders found Anna struggling to breathe, her condition rapidly deteriorating. On arrival, they administered CPR and worked to stabilize her before transporting her by ambulance to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem
The journey that followed was nothing short of extraordinary.
Over the course of 80 days, Anna fought for her life, enduring multiple close calls during her time in the ICU and at a rehabilitation facility. Doctors gave her a 1% chance of returning to her normal self.
But today, Anna is home—grateful, humbled, and calling her recovery nothing less than a miracle.
Prior to the cardiac event, Anna says there were no warning signs. “I was healthy, I took care of myself, and I had just come through surgery thinking I was on the road to recovery,” she said. “This was something I never saw coming.”
On May 30, in a heartfelt gathering at the Davie County EMS Station in Mocksville, Anna met with the emergency personnel she credits with saving her life. Accompanied by her husband and sister, Anna expressed her deep gratitude through tears, thanking each responder personally for giving her the chance to be a wife, a sister, and most importantly, a mother to her two young sons.
“It was a team effort,” said Davie County EMS Director Joseph Ashburn. “From the 911 telecommunicators, to the first responders on scene, to the EMS crew that kept Anna alive during transport—everyone played a part in saving her life.”
Anna hopes that her story will shine a light on the essential, often unseen work that emergency personnel do every day.
“People in our community have no idea what these first responders do for us in our times of need,” she said. “I want them to be recognized. They are the reason I’m alive.”