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Carmen Starr has no personal memories about what happened last August, when an artery to her heart failed and she "flatlined" for some 20 minutes. She doesn't recall being stretched out on the hot asphalt parking lot at the Chisago Lake boat landing while emergency responders repeatedly applied external defibrillator shocks and manual CPR to get her pulse to return.

Carmen's only heard secondhand how her husband Bill, while driving their car flagged down an ambulance on Highway 8, as his unconscious wife crumpled on the car seat beside him.

Her being alive "...is like this story I have been told, I feel it happened to someone else," Carmen explained in her Christmas Letter this year.

The episode began to feel more real last week, when she was finally able to shake the hand of the sheriff's deputy who performed CPR on her. There was a "surreal connection there...I could feel something," she said.

Carmen and her family organized a special gathering at Trappers restaurant to thank everybody who came to her aid five months ago. From her sister Chris and brother-in-law Mark Allen-- to the Starr's children-- all were in agreement these people need to be recognized for what they did.

Carmen explained over dinner at Trappers last week, "This is all about them, not me."

Five months ago Carmen and Bill Starr were eastbound on Highway 8 through downtown Chisago City, in 94 degree heat, on their way to a family picnic.

Carmen was in the front passenger seat with a Coke in her hand when out-of-the-blue -- what was later diagnosed as a congenital defect-- caused her artery to break apart and she lost consciousness. "It was like sticking a pin in a balloon and letting the air out of me," she said, "...and then I was just gone."

Bill glimpsed a Lakes Area EMS ambulance a couple vehicles ahead on the highway. He knew he had to get the attention of the crew. He said, "I concentrated on getting through the light (at #77 and Old Towne) and staying with them, to catch up to them," Bill said. Pulling alongside the rig, the ambulance crew motioned for him to turn off at Shoquist Lane (bowling alley) and pull into the lake access parking lot.

Bill felt a sadness overtake him as he envisioned the phone calls he'd have to make to their children. But then he said he told himself, "'This ambulance was right in front of us for a reason. She is not going to die.'"

Medics Susan Daley and Jon England, plus law enforcement responders must have also resolved that Carmen was not going to die. After over 20 minutes of field intervention they restored a heartbeat. Carmen's daughter Angel, said one of the officers mentioned to her later the hot asphalt had burned his knees while he was at Carmen's side.

Police quickly cleared highway traffic for a high speed transport to Fairview Hospital in Wyoming and ultimately Carmen went to Fairview Southdale and underwent successful surgery to rebuild the dissected artery.

Todd Fisk, Lakes Area EMS operations, said later the ambulance service hasn't had many incidents where the unit gets pulled over in the midst of a crisis.

Fisk explained that the key to successful outcomes in cardiac arrest is response. "The faster you can get to work on the patient, the better the chances of survival, and we were right there."

It took a while to bring Carmen's pulse back but there is no set timeframe for continued efforts, Fisk added. "It all depends on where they are in the arrest."

This may have been all-in-a-day's work for EMS and law enforcement officers; but Carmen and her family wanted to let the public know about the dedication and training these people possess.

The chief and deputy chief of Lakes Area Police Dept.; Sheriff Todd Rivard, plus Kurt Roettjer, Tom Haller, Mark Stovern; along with Daley, England, and Fisk, all came for dinner at Trappers. (Trappers is owned by Louis Radich, Carmen's brother.)

Carmen's family also presented tokens of their appreciation (engraved desk accessories) and shared a few emotional remarks.

Several Trappers' tables were pushed together for the big dinner party and diners chatted easily with youngsters and babies needing attention now and then. To an outsider this might have been a family gathering or maybe a small company party.

But, if you were to eavesdrop you would have heard Carmen, standing in the center of the group, her voice breaking, telling the diners, "I have to thank you all for not giving up.

"You did not quit when I didn't respond right away, and you could easily have judged me because I was overweight...maybe thinking oh, it's her fault...but you kept on trying."

Carmen continued, "The (heart surgeon) told me he couldn't believe I still had brain activity with me being out for so long. He doesn't know how he was able to do what he did. He said fewer than five percent of people who go through what I did even survive.

"He also told me you are the unsung heroes and without you he couldn't do what he does."

She added, "When we had a small new year's celebration I toasted to 2006 and I could honestly say it was good year."

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