Over the years, the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond became more than just co-workers. Their friendships formed into deep familial bonds that mimicked their in-show dynamic.

One of the show’s stars,  Doris Roberts, explained the cast’s progression in her memoir, Are You Hungry, Dear? Life, Laughs, and Lasagna.

“Since I have been spending four days a week every week for seven years with a group of people who all are pretty good at pretending to be a family, it’s no wonder that it has begun to feel as though I really am the mother of the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond,” wrote Roberts.

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That bond was tested during one particularly stressful event when Roberts’ co-star, Peter Boyle, experienced a major medical event during filming. Roberts explained that while on set, Boyle began complaining of chest pains, which was a major red flag to one of the assistant directors on set.

“Peter complained of chest pains,” wrote Roberts. “The first assistant director, Randy Suhr, had been on the set of a movie with Jack Lemmon when he had a heart attack.”

Without asking, Suhr called an ambulance for Boyle, as it was known amongst the set that Boyle wouldn’t ask for help on his own.

“He [Suhr] knew Peter well enough to realize that if he’d asked him if he wanted to go to the hospital, Peter would have said no and tried to tough it out,” wrote Roberts. “When the ambulance arrived, it turned out that Randy was right. Peter was actually having a heart attack when the ambulance came. Fortunately, this came at the end of the season, and he was able to do his recuperation during our hiatus.”