Wonderful story. EMT's and ER personnel are very, very special people.
When DS was 4 he had a particularly bad episode of croup that landed him in ICU for a couple of days. He was blue when I brought him in. The nurse who was primarily assigned to him was especially wonderful, and I never forgot her. A few years later he had a bad asthma attack, and we saw her again.
Fast forward to about 4 years ago (9-10 years after the initial incident) - I was visiting someone in the hospital, and went to the snack bar. This same nurse tapped me on the shoulder and asked about DS, even remembering his name! I'm sure she sees dozens of kids in respiratory distress yearly (even monthly!), but she remembered.
MandCmama, your horrible experience has probably helped save lives since. And how wonderful that you got to thank him in person, and let him know how he impacted your lives.