A Canton man received an early Christmas present: another chance at life.

Ken Percheski was brought back to life by Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services paramedics and firefighters with the help of the Canton Fire Department, the Cherokee Sheriff's Office and a county fire explorer.

Percheski, 70, along with his wife Catherine, on Friday visited Station 22 on Bells Ferry Road to thank those who brought life back into him.

"Thank you," he simply said to the fire department personnel. "Thank God I'm alive."

At 10:40 a.m. on Oct. 18, Percheski blacked out while sitting behind the wheel at a traffic light on Sixes Road at Bells Ferry Road near BridgeMill.

Percheski, who suffers from a pre-existing heart condition, said he doesn't remember why he was on Sixes Road or what happened before he blacked out.

When found, Percheski had medication in both hands.

According to Cherokee Fire-ES Lt. Rick Baechtel, a woman driving a Publix delivery truck noticed Percheski was sitting through the green light. The woman called 911 and reported what she saw.

Along with Cherokee Fire-ES, the sheriff's office and Canton firefighters responded to the call.

Authorities had to break Percheski's back passenger-side window to pull him out of the car onto the median.

The call to help Percheski was the second person-down call his crew responded to that day, Cherokee Fire-ES Sgt. Scott Deal said. Deal's son Corey, an Explorer with the fire department, began CPR compressions on Percheski.

Corey, a 17-year-old student at Dade County High School, said it was his second time performing CPR.

When Percheski was hooked up to the automated external defibrillator, he had no pulse, Deal said.

"He was virtually dead," he said.

Corey continued CPR, and Percheski was shocked twice with the AED. After the second shock, his heart began to beat again and he was transported to Northside Hospital-Cherokee in Canton, where he stayed six days.

He was transferred to Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta where he stayed for two weeks and was released on Nov. 3

Throughout his 20 years on the job, Deal said he's only seen five cases in which people without a pulse walk out of the hospital alive.

In Cherokee County, this was the second call they received this year in which a patient had no heartbeat and, with the use of an AED, they were brought back to life and survived.

Earlier in the year, a Waleska man was brought back to life after officials used CPR and an AED.

Mrs. Percheski, who was at home at the time of the incident, said she was about to go shopping when her daughter came to the house.

"I could tell by the look on her face that something was wrong," she said, adding her daughter took her to Northside to be with her husband.

Percheski, who's had eight previous heart bypass surgeries, still is unable to drive and can't walk very far.

The Percheskis, originally from Indiana, moved to Canton in 2007 from Indiana.

They have one child and three grandchildren and attend Our Lady of La Salette Catholic Church north of Canton.

Deal said with these types of cases, early CPR and early use of defibrillators can prove vital in saving lives.

Also, he said, adequate training is key to providing quality care to every citizen in the county.

With 72 hours of emergency medical service training every two years and 120 hours of fire training each year, the county's paramedics are well qualified to handle what comes with their jobs, Deal said.

"We have a very professional staff, highly trained," he added.

For the Percheskis, they said they can't thank these heroes enough for keeping the patriarch of their family alive to see another Christmas.

"We thank God we are all here with our family," Mrs. Percheski said.