Introduced by his wife, Gisele, who had cheering fans of her own, she called him a “stroke survivor” and thanked the crowd for welcoming her husband back to the trail. Hardly missing a beat, Fetterman stepped up to the microphone and tackled Oz’s line of rhetoric head on.

“Are we in Erie, or have I fit 1,400 people in my basement?” he quipped. According to the campaign, the final attendance count was 1,355.

The Senate hopeful went on to recap his stroke experience, growing visibly emotional when retelling the story of his wife catching wind of his stroke before it was too late. “Gisele saved my life,” he said, adding that he was grateful it happened near a well-equipped health care facility, in an apparent touchstone-tap for his position on approving quality health-care access throughout the nation.

“I’m just so grateful. And I’m so lucky. So thank you for being here tonight,” he said.