WSMV Channel 4 4 O'Clock Focus: Quick thinking helps save local teacher

A local science teacher has returned to the classroom this week after teetering on the brink of death and being pulled back by his own students.

For John Claxton, quick thinking and a piece of medical equipment made the difference between life and death.

Today, Claxton is able to stand in front of a class full of Davidson Academy teenagers while they navigate the world of physics.

But less than one month ago, he suffered a serious medical emergency.

"I looked down to do some more of my work, and the next thing I know I looked up, and he was going into seizures," junior Chandler Luther said.

Claxton was in distress, and even in his weakened state, he knew he was having a stroke.

"I thought I was going to die, and my concern was that I had a classroom of students who were going to watch me die," he said.

Fortunately, those students didn't let it happen. Instead, they took action.

"I was a little stunned at first, but then I thought this is real. Snap out of it and go do something. I knew we had to get someone experienced to handle the situation and not a bunch of teenagers," Luther said.

Three days later, Claxton woke up at Skyline Medical Center remembering almost nothing.

That was when a doctor explained they had run a catheter through his leg all the way up to his brain, where a blood clot was threatening his life.

"You take somebody who is going to be neurologically devastated or going to die, and you change it into somebody able to walk out of the hospital," said Dr. John Spooner, with Skyline Medical Center.

The procedure only works in one out of every ten patients, either because they don't get to the hospital in time or they are taken somewhere that doesn't have the right equipment.

Claxton called it an act of God.

"Everybody was ready, everybody but me, was ready for me to have a stroke, and they took care of me," Claxton said.

Other than being a little tired, he does not show a single bit of evidence that just a month ago he almost died.

"We're all excited to have him back. It'll be good when he gets back in class, and things can get back to normal," Luther said.

Only two other hospitals in the area, Vanderbilt and Saint Thomas, have this life saving equipment.

And doctors said that if you are at risk of having a stroke, do your homework in advance to make sure you are getting the best treatment available.

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