BILLINGS — As participants in a YMCA workout class beat their hearts out, one man in the class is thankful his heart can still beat.

Billings Fire Department Capt. Chris Lowe was diagnosed with congenital heart disease at age 18, but doctors said it was safe for him to continue living a normal life.

“I do sports and wrestling and things like that,” Lowe said Tuesday.

He was fine for decades, but no longer. Lowe first passed out while running.

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“I woke up on the sidewalk,” the 41-year-old said.

Then it happened again during a training class at the YMCA, but he kept making excuses.

“Because it was so hot. I got dehydrated. It was so easy to make excuses,” Lowe said.

The same thing happened last May and he couldn’t ignore it. Lowe was playing basketball at the station when he fell to the ground.

Paramedic Wyatt Cukor sprang into action.

“So, since I was the only paramedic at this station that day, it was my duty to take care of him. Everyone was looking at me, here you have to do this. No, you got C-Low, you take care of him,” Cukor said.

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Cukor took the first step in saving the captain’s life by playing a leisurely game of basketball.

A few days later, Lowe was scheduled for open heart surgery at St. Vincent Healthcare.

“(Doctors) said he was at a point where he might not wake up if he passed out again,” Lowe said. “It was obviously a mental shock.”

Lowe was diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis and underwent a complex surgery to replace her pulmonary valve with an aortic valve and then replace the pulmonary valve with a cadaver’s valve. Dr Simon Maltais performed the surgery on Lowe and said the case was serious.

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The surgery Lowe chose is fairly rare, with just 20 people undergoing it at the hospital last year.

Less than a year later, Lowe was back training and fighting fires.

“It’s pretty great to see him now back at work and fully functional and able to run as many miles as we always do,” Cukor said.

Lowe wants to remind others not to make the same mistakes he did when it comes to their health.

“Don’t be like me and don’t make excuses. So even if you think you might have an excuse, don’t. Go get it checked out,” Lowe said.