Saturday, March 30th, 2024 was a day that flipped my family's life upside down due to heart health. We went from walking around the Green Bay Zoo as a family to devastation...
My Dad's Story - from heartbreak to sunshine..
March 30th, 2024 changed our lives forever when I received a phone call that my dad was in the ER and was "code blue." The medical team performed CPR for 45 minutes and shocked him multiple times, when they finally had a "strong enough" pulse to intubate him and transfer him to the cath lab, then finally to the ICU. Upon my family's arrival to the ICU, my dad remained intubated and we were informed that they had just finished with a CT scan that showed no brain activity. We were informed that they wanted to see if my dad showed any improvement overnight, but we needed to have a serious conversation between the three of us as my dad had less than a 5% chance of survival.
We put that to the side and spent time trying to communicate with my dad to hopefully get him to wake up - we prayed for him, we talked to him, we yelled at him - my mom even cursed him out. My brother then decided to play a video of his then 1.5 year old son giggling in my dad's ear - once this happened, my dad had a "jerking" movement of his arm. I had to get the nurse to explain to my mom and brother that jerking movements were normal when someone is intubated.
We left that night with little hope. I went home, started looking at old family photos and laughing in between the tears. My husband looked at me and told me to stop, that I needed to relax as tomorrow was going to be tough, I told him that I couldn't - I needed to start gathering photos for my dad's funeral. At that moment, my husband said one sentence that I will forever cherish: "Anjel, stop, he is going to be ok."
I went back to my parents house that next morning to meet with my mom and brother before we headed to the hospital to tell them of my dad's wishes - quality over quantity - just pull the plug. The realization hit us quickly - my mom was losing the love of her life of 51 years; and my brother and I were losing our father; my nephew would only have 1.5 years of memories with his grandpa; my sister-in-law and husband would have to be our rocks, while grieving their father-in-law. As we were about to walk out the door, I received a phone call: "Anjel? This is Nicole, the nurse." I begged Nicole to force him to hold on for just two more minutes, we wanted to be there to say our final goodbye before the monitors chirped due to the flatline. Nicole stated, "NO! He is awake! He is talking!" I stopped in my tracks and said, "wait, repeat that please," as I placed Nicole on speaker phone so my mom could hear - "you are talking about my father, Daniel William Gobis, correct?" Nicole then said, "YES!! He is awake and talking!" We rushed up to the ICU to greet my dad - tears of happiness that he was with us still - everyone's prayers worked. This was an Easter miracle!
Over the next 10 days in ICU - he had a lot of testing done, and then finally a defibrillator was placed. One of my most favorite memories from ICU was when the speech therapist came and asked him to name as many animals as he can in one minute - he was able to name: bald eagle, black bear, tiger, lion, moose, etc.. as I mentioned above - we were at the Green Bay Zoo the same day as his cardiac arrest.. all of the animals were those that we saw earlier that morning. The therapist was dumbfounded and said that most people say dog, cat, mouse, bird... NOPE, not him.
Upon his discharge from ICU, he had months of cardiac rehab, a lot of doctor visits, and a procedure. He was able to start driving again and live his life. Fast forward to Wednesday, July 16th, 2025 I received a phone call while at work that my dad was in a-fib 60% of the time over the past month and a half, and that we needed to get in to see his electrophysiologist immediately to discuss future care/procedures, so we went in on Friday, July 18th, 2025 and scheduled his next procedure for Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025 for a cardio version. Unfortunately, he went right back into a-fib almost immediately and is scheduled for another procedure mid-September.
With all that being said, it's time to unite, take action and to save lives. Every dollar donated, means more people trained in lifesaving CPR, more research and more lifesaving moments like my father's for everyone. Together, we can turn bystanders into lifesavers.
I'm asking that you please join me as I Walk to Save Lives.