An East Norwich man choked back tears Thursday as he thanked the LIRR riders and emergency workers who saved his life.

Brad Wieboldt, of East Norwich, went into cardiac arrest aboard an LIRR train over the weekend. Wieboldt is alive thanks to quick-thinking strangers, police officers, EMTs and doctors.

"I'm thankful for what everybody did," says Wieboldt.

Dr. Herbert Hirsch, a cardiologist at NYU Winthrop Hospital, says there is a chain that needs to be followed. He says everyone involved in the chain did what they were supposed to.

The first link in the lifesaving chain was Kelly O'Hara, of Oyster Bay Cove. She was sitting near Wieboldt on the train and noticed something was wrong.

"He made a snoring sound and there were two or three sounds after that, heavy breathing that didn't sound right to me and that's when I jumped and I heard a bang and his head fell down the head rest," says O'Hara.

O'Hara says she ran up and down the train yelling for a doctor or nurse. She says a nurse and medical student came to the rescue, performing CPR on Wieboldt until EMTs arrived. When police and the EMTs arrived they used a defibrillator on Wieboldt and rushed him to NYU Winthrop Hospital.

"I wouldn't be alive today if every single person didn't actually play their own part," says Wieboldt.

Wieboldt and his family asked the lifesaving team to visit at the hospital. Wieboldt's son thanked the people who saved his dad.

Wieboldt is still trying to find the nurse and medical student who performed CPR. He's hoping they will come forward so he can thank them.