On Sunday, May 19th, 2024, I suffered a Cardiac Arrest event. I was a relatively healty 52-year-old man, with elevated cholesterol (but not high), well managed high blood pressure, and pre-diabetes. I wasn't what one would consider obese; I was active, didn't smoke, rarely drank alcohol, and didn't touch drugs. I had a physical two months earlier with no obvious warning signs of what was yet to come. I was NOT the posterchild for a heart attack. But that didn't matter.
A little before 8:00am, I just finished a "healthy" Sunday morning breakfast, and I just "didn't feel good." After telling my wife and taking my blood pressure (188/128), we were getting ready to take me to the ER. At 8:03am I collapsed. The events that immediately followed, are nothing short of a miracle. Everything that could, and frankly NEEDED, to happen fell into place. I'm not going to say that it went well because it was chaotic and time move moved extremely slowly for those around me. Just to put this in perspective, most people (over 90%) don't survive what just happened. But God, my family, my neighbors, and my community were on my side.
My son, a 16-year-old high school rising junior called 911. The Operator instructed him what to do as my wife and he positioned me for life saving CPR. He started the motions that he had learned a year and a half earlier in a 9th grade health class. My daugheter called a neighbor I had been texting just a minute before - a pediatric cardiologist - who then phoned his wife - a former ICU nurse - relaying to her that I had a heart attack and to get to the house. Once she arrived, my daughter went to another neighbor, a physician, who quickly joined the team. Between the three of them, they performed CPR for almost 15 minutes until Fire Fighters and then Paramedics arrived. They utilized an AED six times and continued CPR for another 25 minutes between I was revived in the ambulance shortly before arriving at Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Hospital. There the ER team moved me swiftly to the Cath Lab where I was given a cocktail of medications and three stints in two blocked arterties surrounding my heart. Everyone involved just ended up in the right place, at the right time, with the right skills needed for my survival.
Through the work of medical professionals over the next 5 days I was advanced from the Cardiac ICU, then the ICU, to an impatient room, and finally released on Thursday afternoon. During that time, I learned of the seriousness of my situation and how truly blessed I was with my recovery.
I know that I can never thank enought those that worked to save my life that day. But to honor the family, friends, community, and professionals who helped me get to where I am today, and in hopes that others will learn these life saving techniques, I have decided to raise money for the American Heart Association this Summer. Please help me in my mission and donate to me and Team United. The more people who learn to perform CPR, the more stories will end like mine.
