Milwaukee County honors 'Ms. Dee' for life-saving action

They call her Ms. Dee. It's the name on her shirt. The name rings out when someone has a bump, bruise or cut.

Dee McCollum is the director of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Milwaukee, a gathering place for sports, learning and culture.

On the morning of Dec. 12, someone was on the gym floor, not moving, not breathing. The call went out for Ms. Dee. She would know what to do.

"You walk in here," McCollum said. "You're going to walk out."

McCollum saved the life of 37-year-old Antonio Franklin, who had suffered a heart attack at the Milwaukee County center. She pumped his chest, breathed into his mouth, delivered four shocks from an automated external defibrillator.

On Monday, McCollum will be honored by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. King staff member Antonio Moore will also be recognized for helping to save Franklin.

The other day, Franklin showed up at the community center for the first time since the medical emergency. Carrying a bouquet of flowers, he saw McCollum and the two embraced and wept.

"This woman saved my life," he said.

It's not the first time that Franklin confronted his own mortality. As a young man, he survived two shootings and was incarcerated. He turned to God and turned his life around. For the past five years, he has been a pastor. He is set to be married next month.

For McCollum, the center is a gathering spot, a second home for many people in the neighborhood.

"I wanted to make it a safe haven, no matter what was going on out in the streets that when you came here, we're OK," she said. "The guys know me. When they walk in the door, they pull their pants up because no sagging is allowed. Even if I see them in the mall, they pull their pants up..."

Franklin is a regular at the center, working out three times a week.

He has no memory of what occurred at the gym on Dec. 12. Doctors told him that his "heart gave out and if I didn't have CPR at the time, it was fatal, I would have passed."

Others have filled in the blanks.

Franklin lifted weights for about 15 minutes and then ran laps. After running the eighth lap, he laid down on the gym floor and crawled a few feet to the door near the weight room. Moore and a bystander began to fan Franklin, thinking he was overheated.

McCollum arrived. Unable to detect a pulse, she immediately began CPR while Moore was dispatched for the defibrillator. At one point, Moore handled CPR while McCollum took off her sweat-soaked shirt.

While she worked on Franklin, McCollum said she thought of her two sons, both in their 30s. And in that moment, McCollum said that Franklin became one of her children.

"I was looking at my child," she said. "I was looking at my son."

McCollum said she prayed and thought of God.

"I serve a powerful Lord," she said. "I buried my mother in June two days after my birthday. And I was in a black hole of loss because she was my everything. I didn't know what to do with myself. When this happened, something got bright for me. I realize that He has something else for me to do. He took away my mother but He has a whole lot for me to do."

McCollum said that in her heart she believed that Franklin would survive as emergency workers took him to Columbia St. Mary's Hospital.

"I didn't believe that God would let something like this happen to me and someone die in my hands," she said.

Franklin was hospitalized for two weeks and McCollum visited every day. She calls him frequently to find out how he's doing.

And after the doctors clear Franklin to return to the gym and exercise, McCollum will make sure to monitor his progress.

"He and I are going to walk together," she said.

Bill Glauber can be contacted by bill.glauber@jrn.com.