WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — The crowd cheered Wednesday night as longtime referee Benjy Bluman walked onto the court at Williamsville North High School.
There, he greeted the people who saved his life.
On December 28, Bluman collapsed during a game.
North was playing a championship game against Williamsville East in a holiday tournament.
Several medical professionals in the stands, many who were parents of players, jumped into action.
Williamsville North parent Takesha Leonard was one of them.
"I'm a nurse practitioner. I'm trained to save people," she said. "I ran over and just kind of assessed the situation, tried to see what was going on, and saw that Benjy was pulse-less and was not breathing."
Leonard looked back on those moments on the court.
"Every breath that you take, you're just giving it all you have," she said. "Whatever I have in me, Lord, just let me give it to him. But it wasn't looking good, and then he opened his eyes, and it's a miracle."
Bluman's doctors told him a blockage in his artery caused him to go into cardiac arrest that day.
Those involved say everyone had a job, doing their part to bring him back to life.
Dr. Jeffrey Neu, a Williamsville East parent, said, "I think it was a great group effort by a bunch of individuals who really had never come together before, working toward a common goal to save someone's life."
Bluman says to the people who rushed to the court, "thank you" will never be enough.
"I think a lot of times we rely on past experiences," Bluman said. "I've never had a past experience like this where I can go out and reward somebody for saving my life."
It's an experience Bluman and those who helped him say they'll always hold onto.
Williamsville East parent Dr. Ray Ogra said, "We work in hospitals, and we kind of see miracles every day. We also see some really tough things every day. Not everybody has a nice ending to their story so for us, it's probably one of the most gratifying things that you could experience as a doctor."
Leonard added, "Life is just such a precious gift. For us to be a part of that experience, it was not just a life-changing experience for Benjy, but for myself and my entire family was here that evening, so it was a life-changing experience for all of us."
Bluman told reporters he had stents put in, spent about a week in the hospital, and has been home recovering ever since.
He reflects back on what happened that night in December and gets emotional.
"Usually in a basketball game, there's three teams. The two teams that are playing. The referees are considered a team," Bluman said. "That night that this game was to be played, there were four teams, because the fourth team was the one that came out to be the most important team. The ones that went up there and did the things to bring me back to life."
Prior to the game on Wednesday, Bluman sat down with 2 On Your Side's Lauren Hall.
She asked if he wants to referee again.
"Sometimes you wonder after all the years, how many, I mean what your last game is going to be like," Bluman said. "I didn't want that to be my last game."
He says he won't referee for the rest of this season, but he hopes to return at some point.
