OKLAHOMA CITY, Ok. — An off-duty firefigher-medic succumbed to heat exhaustion while attending a tennis match with his wife.
“It was day two of a tennis tournament that my wife and I went to. [In the] middle of the match, about 12:30, 1:00, I started to feel a little bit of cramping in my legs. I noticed I wasn’t sweating again,” Ray Espy told FOX23.
His legs continued to cramp, growing worse a few hours later. His wife eventually called 911 when the symptoms grew overbearing.
Though he’d been drinking plenty of liquids, Espy hadn’t gotten out of the sun enough to let his body cool down and medics diagnosed him with heat exhaustion.
Espy said he realizes he should have taken the same precautions as those he would have prescribed for any of his patients.
He promised this will be the last time he’s in the back of an ambulance as anything other than a medic.