Advertisement Brockton man saved by fellow train passengers By Joseph Markman, The Enterprise Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Denise Bradsher thought her brother was calling her Tuesday afternoon.Instead, it was a woman’s voice she heard. The woman and several other strangers were in the middle of saving her brother’s life.Kenneth Bradsher, 50, of Brockton suffered a heart attack while commuting home on the train from Boston Tuesday.The passengers who sprang into action kept Bradsher alive until paramedics brought him to Boston Medical Center, where he was in a medically induced coma Friday afternoon.“The doctors said he would not have made it to the hospital at all,” Denise Bradsher said. “All they did helped him. They helped save him.”Bradsher, a construction worker, has lived in Brockton his entire life. He has a wife, five children and a history of heart problems, his sister said.On Tuesday afternoon, coming back from work, Bradsher collapsed between JFK and Quincy Center stations. One of the nearby passengers described what she called a “truly humbling” response.Barbara Fearing, 49, of Halifax, rarely takes the commuter rail. On Tuesday, she was returning from a corporate meeting for her managed care company when she saw Bradsher fall unconscious.Immediately, a group of passengers – a nurse, medical technician, construction worker and others – got Bradsher out of his seat, took his pulse, started CPR and found a defibrillator.Someone called 911, and one woman found his cellphone. The passengers worked together seamlessly, Fearing said, to keep the man alive.“It was just truly amazing,” Fearing said. “Nobody asked anybody’s name. Everybody was just quiet and went back to their seats and were very humble about it.”The train, outbound from South Station, pulled into Quincy Center Station about 4:15 p.m., according to Mac Daniel, a spokesman for Keolis Commuter Services.Daniel confirmed the incident and said that train crews also assisted Bradsher on the way to the Quincy station. He was met there by an ambulance and paramedics who took him to Quincy Medical Center and then to Boston Medical Center.Kenneth Bradsher opened his eyes and looked at his wife and son Thursday, before doctors put him back into a coma, his sister said. She waited tearfully at home Friday with her mom and dad as her brother fought for his life in Boston.“It’s not good right now,” Denise Bradsher said. “We have to look for the worst, and hope for the best.”