After Cheating Death in Bike Wreck, Teen Thanks Medics, Firefighters in Glendale, AZ

"He has no pulse, and he's not breathing, and when you look at him, this kid's head was purple."

That's how Glendale Fire Capt. Gregg Lentz and his crew found a teen bicyclist pinned under a pickup truck.

"The first thing we initially saw was that front left driver side tire was directly over his chest and all that weight was pinned on top of him," Firefighter/Paramedic Aaron McMurdie told abc 15.

The crew quickly used cribbing, a jack and spreaders to lift the vehicle off Zeyad Elsuhimi, 13.

"When that tire did finally come off of his chest, he took a breath!" Capt. Tommy Gobster explained.

Firefighter/Paramedic Kasey Gallagher described performing a needle decompression to restore air to the youth's lungs. The team effort to save him also involved Firefighters Nathan Calles and Gene Tracy cutting away the bike that was still wrapped around his leg.

"It was an emotional roller coaster for all of us." Lentz said, adding that outcomes for patients with those types of injuries aren't always favorable.

Elsuhimi said he still has the newspaper story that said he had died.

He's very much alive and moving on with life as a freshman in high school.

This week, he showed up at the firehouse to shake hands and give hugs to the medics and firefighters who saved him seven months ago.

"Thank you guys for saving me because I honestly wouldn't be here without you guys; and the doctors who helped me and everybody who helped me along the process..."

He also has a career path in mind as well and was eager to share.

"I hope to be a doctor actually, one day. Because after this experience, it's made me realize the beauty of saving lives, and I would like to do it for other people."