‘I died on Monday’: A Seattle woman says 13 firefighters took turns doing CPR for an hour, then she came home to a proposed $7 million cut

A Seattle woman says she learned something shortly after coming home from the hospital that left her furious. The news had nothing to do with her recovery, but it gave her a new reason to speak out about the firefighters who had saved her.

The TikTok creator behind the video, Hellcat Hysteria, opens with a blunt statement: “Hey, so like I died on Monday.” She says she suffered a cardiac arrest and had no pulse before Seattle firefighters began working to save her. 

According to her, 13 firefighters took two-minute turns giving her compressions for an hour. “I had no pulse. They saved me,” she says. Her account also puts the focus on what happens when someone goes into cardiac arrest, when even the signs of a serious emergency can be mistaken for something ordinary, such as snoring.

Her first news after coming home was about the people who saved her

She says the first thing she learned after getting home from the hospital was that Seattle Fire “might lose $7 million in funding.” That figure lines up with a proposal reported by KIRO 7 News.

According to the outlet, the mayor’s proposed budget would cut $7.06 million from Seattle Fire’s overtime budget for 2027-2028. It is still a proposal, not a final decision.

The proposed reduction would affect overtime used to fill staffing gaps. KIRO reports that Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said daily staffing could drop from 222 to 209 and that, depending on staffing levels, four to six units may be taken out of service each day. Firefighters respond to plenty of calls that have nothing to do with fires, including medical emergencies, rescues and some decidedly unusual requests for help. The concern in Seattle is whether there will be enough crews available for emergency calls.

The union and the mayor’s office disagree over what the plan would mean, per KIRO. The union says it could lengthen response times. The mayor’s office says it would align overtime with current staffing and spending trends. The city also says it will keep recruiting firefighters. The outlet notes 67% of calls got a response within four minutes in 2025, down from 74% in 2023. The outlet does not link that drop to the proposed cut.

Commenters reacted to both the budget news and her recovery. One who said they own property in Seattle wrote that this is “one of the reasons that I don’t mind paying my taxes.”

Another commenter, who says they are a paramedic, focused on her recovery. They wrote that “patients after cardiac arrest that can speak/walk/be independent are like less than 10%”.

The creator also replied to a user who said they planned to turn their anger into advocacy. She wrote that she works at a food bank and is “not done trying to save my neighborhood,” adding that she’s glad she doesn’t have brain damage.

She ends the video with, “I have now become a fireman advocate.” For now, the $7.06 million reduction remains a proposal.