GLADSTONE, Ore. – Lineman Mark Moe literally got the shock of his life recently – and it killed him.

Minutes later, another shock brought him back to life.

Moe, working as sub-contracted lineman for electrical utility Portland General Electric, was replacing an arm on a wooden power pole when he made contact with a live wire carrying over 7,000 volts of electricity.

The charged coursed though his body from his arm to his heel. His heart stopped and he hung lifeless from the power pole as his co-workers raced to lower him to the ground.

For four long minutes, Moe was clinically dead – no pulse, no life signs.

Volunteer Gladstone firefighters, located just blocks away, quickly arrived on the scene. Moe’s body was still hanging on the power pole when they showed up to help. A rope was attached to Moe and he was lowered to the ground.

The firefighters then gave Moe a second shock, this time from a defibrillator unit they had received just a few months earlier. 

The jolt restarted his heart and brought Moe back to life.

To the amazement of medical personnel and co-workers, Moe suffered very little injury from the incident, just two burn marks on his arm and heel where the high-voltage current passed through him.

Assistant Chief Mike Funk with the Gladstone Fire Department said that much power passing through a person’s body usually does a lot of damage including the loss of limbs.

But Moe is walking and talking without any problems, except for the burned spots, which are expected to heal. "Obviously, everybody did a great job or I wouldn’t be here," he says of the efforts to rescue and then revive him.

Of his near-death experience, Moe said he didn’t see any white lights and can’t even recall going to work on the morning of the accident.

He said he expects to be back to work as a lineman at the end of the month.