50 for 50 Survivor Celebration
More than 300,000 people suffer sudden cardiac arrest each year in the U.S. alone. In most
communities, fewer than eight in 100 survive. Three times that number could live with prompt bystander CPR, early defibrillation, advanced care by paramedics and use of special hospital units.
Fifty years ago Drs. William B. Kouwenhoven, Guy Knickerbocker
and James R. Jude discovered modern CPR at Johns Hopkins
University. To honor the occasion, the Citizen CPR Foundation
brought together 50 survivors from throughout North America
and the world to meet with two of the three surviving inventors,
along with Nicholas W. Kouwenhoven, grandson of the late Dr.
Kouwenhoven. This is the largest known gathering of survivors
ever attempted.
Here are their stories.
CPR Saved My Life —50 Survivor Stories
Carleton Smith
Boston, Massachusetts
Saved during the Boston Marathon
Date of SCA: April 19, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 64
Rescued by spectators, his son Jimmy Smith and
Boston EMS
Sponsor: ZOLL Medical Corporation
It happened at mile 25 of the Boston Marathon. Carleton Smith was running alongside his son, Jimmy during their first marathon together. Then Jimmy saw his dad falling. Jimmy tried to catch him, but Carleton was in sudden cardiac arrest. A police officer called for emergency medical services. At the same time, a cardiologist who'd been watching the race jumped the barricade, ran onto the course and, along with Jimmy, began doing CPR. Emergency medical services arrived moments later with an AED and shocked his heart back to life.
Smith hadn't started out as an athlete. In the mid 70s, around the time his son was born, he smoked and could hardly run a quarter mile without stopping to catch his breath. Determined to get in shape, he quit smoking and took up jogging. Shorter races led to longer races and then he finished his first marathon in 1983 in two hours, 37 minutes. He was hooked.
He first noticed chest discomfort after running marathons in New Orleans and Boston in 1997. Despite that, he placed first in his class in the New Orleans race and eighth in a field of 800 in his age group in Boston. Tests showed he had a blockage, so he underwent angioplasty and had a stent placed in his coronary artery. He was back pounding the pavement just a few weeks later.
After his sudden cardiac arrest, he had another stent placed in his heart. Now finished with cardiac rehabilitation, he's back to running five times a week—and can already feel 26.2 miles of road calling. "With the help of my doctor and a little patience, I would like to run another marathon."
Teddy Okerstrom
Plymouth, Minnesota
Saved at Wayzata High School in Plymouth, Minn.
Date of SCA: June 16, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 16
Rescued by Matt Lombardi, Ryan Johnson, Dee Schrader, Tracy Byrd and A.J. Troup
Sponsor: ZOLL Medical Corporation
Norm Okerstrom was at his office, a few miles from his son Teddy's high school, when he got the call: Teddy was in sudden cardiac arrest. "The caller said, 'Norm, it's serious. Teddy is down. They're doing CPR.'" Stunned, Okerstrom sped to the field where his son had been doing football conditioning drills. Norm prayed all the way. "Lord, our kids are yours. We've always said they're gifts from you and we are just the parents. But God, please don't take him today." On the field, coaches and school officials were working furiously to save Teddy.
Coach Matt Lombardi had seen Teddy fall and quickly realized his heart had stopped. He shouted to coach, Tracy Byrd, to get the school's AED. Byrd ran to the athletic office, where he found the AED, along with Dee Schrader, an administrative staff member and CPR instructor, and coach Ryan Johnson, a trained first responder and former volunteer firefighter. As the three were running to the field with the AED, student A.J. Troup—the fastest kid in school, Norm says—took the AED and sprinted to Teddy. A.J. figured he could get there quicker.
With Lombardi and Dee doing CPR, Johnson hooked up the AED and shocked Teddy's heart. Norm arrived just after his son was loaded into the ambulance. He swung open the doors, grabbed Teddy's leg and said, "I'm here Teddy. Dad's here." As Norm climbed in the front seat for the ride to the hospital he asked if his son was dead. Responders told him Teddy had regained a heartbeat. "My prayer was answered," Okerstrom says.
Doctor's still haven't been able to figure out what went wrong with Teddy's heart, or how likely it is to happen again. So he has an implanted defibrillator, just in case. Though Teddy had to give up football, he still plays basketball, baseball and helps with coaching and stats for the football team. "Other than not being able to play football, I've done just about anything I want to do. I'm still the same!" His family is now involved with raising awareness about sudden cardiac arrest with organizations such as Parent Heart Watch, Take Heart Minnesota and the Minnesota Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survivor Network.
Radie Jo Cannady
Austin, Texas
Saved at Gold's Gym in Austin, Texas
Date of SCA: August 8, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 54
Rescued by an unknown bystander, the Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS
Sponsor: Take Heart Austin
Radie Jo Cannady was determined that her demanding job would not interfere with her plans to get in better shape. So she hired a personal trainer, and headed for Gold's Gym in Austin, Texas with her daughter for their first session. Cannady hadn't been feeling well that evening, but attributed it to exhaustion and stress from working too hard. She collapsed while using the leg press machine. An anonymous gym patron began CPR until responders from the Austin Fire Department arrived.
"My husband told me I was unconscious for about 45 minutes and that EMS had to use the defibrillator about six or seven times before they were able to get a faint pulse," Cannady says. "I'm so glad they kept working on me and didn't give up on me."
Her road to recovery hasn't been easy. She spent more than two weeks in cardiac rehabilitation, which continued when she got home. She now has an implanted defibrillator and a walker to help her get around. At first, she was afraid her heart would stop again if she exercised. But over the past two years she's worked to overcome her fears. She joined an exercise class for others with physical challenges and has recently started taking daily walks again, knowing that staying fit will help her health in the longterm. "It is my prayer that I will one day know the name of the angel who administered CPR until EMS could arrive. It is because of that person and God's grace that I am here today."
"It is my prayer that I will one day know the name of the angel who administered CPR until EMS could arrive. It is because of that person and God's grace that I am here today."
Michael Wall
San Diego, California
Saved while surfing in Ocean Beach, Calif.
Date of SCA: June 4, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 28
Rescued by City of San Diego Lifeguards
Sponsor: American Red Cross
Most days of the week, Michael Wall would get off work and head down to the beach to surf. "I love the freedom of being out there in the water. The rush of catching the wave. And it's great exercise," Wall says. One afternoon, Wall suffered a seizure that caused him to pass out, face down, in the water. He began to drown. A friend, Tim Nelson, happened to glance over and notice Wall's lifeless body. He flipped Wall over and felt for a pulse. There was none. Nelson pulled Wall onto his surfboard, screamed for help and began furiously paddling to shore with the help of two other surfers who'd come to their aid. By then, City of San Diego Lifeguards were paddling out to the surfers. Back on shore, lifeguards performed CPR until an ambulance arrived.
Physicians still don't know what caused Wall's seizure, but Wall hasn't let it stop him. He's back to surfing nearly daily. "Words cannot express my gratitude. Every second counts, and they knew exactly what to do."
Judy Mims
Lodi, California
Saved in a Target in Lodi, Calif.
Date of SCA: November 16, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 56
Rescued by Lodi Fire Department and American Medical Response
Sponsor: American Heart Association
Sudden cardiac arrest is frightening and traumatic. But Judy Mims says nearly dying came with a silver lining. "I can honestly say that I do not regret suffering an SCA, nor the events that followed, as it has completely transformed my life. Before my SCA, I was going through the motions of life, too busy to spend time on family relationships and friendships. I tended to be a pessimistic person and wasn't happy in my job. Now, I consider each day 'the first day of the rest of my life' and do not take anything for granted. ... My relationships are closer than ever. I am more laid back, and absolutely love my job as a fifth grade teacher."
Mims can't remember why she went to Target the morning her heart stopped beating. The last thing she recalls was calling her mother to say she wasn't feeling well. She collapsed in the restroom. Target employees called 911 and stayed with her until responders from Lodi Fire Department and American Medical Response arrived. Fire Capt. Brian Jungeblut, engineer Dave Mettler and firefighter Todd Wagner began CPR and defibrillation, while the AMR crew—paramedic Chad Sibbett and emergency medical technician Brent Jacobs—monitored her heart and started an IV line.
Her heart stopped four more times in the emergency department. For 10 days, Mims' family waited to hear if she would live. She was in a coma, had pneumonia, pulmonary edema and internal bleeding, and doctors told her family her prognosis did not look good, Mims says. She awoke long enough to remind her family that her car registration was due, surgeons decided to try to do a quadruple bypass.
During the surgery, doctors discovered she had a congenital heart defect that would make doing any more than a double bypass impossible. Today, living with a serious heart condition, Mims has to be careful to avoid overexertion. But she was able to return to her fifth grade classroom. She teaches Sunday school and sings in her church choir. "I owe my life to each and every one who played a part in my rescue."
Joe Farrell
Danville, California
Saved at a friend's house
Date of SCA: August 9, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 56
Rescued by Matt Eckman
Sponsor: UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center
While playing golf on Aug. 23, 2007 in Incline Village, Nev., Joe Farrell had an experience he will never forget. A man was lying on the ground in sudden cardiac arrest. Farrell took charge of the scene. He told another golfer to call 911 while Farrell did CPR until paramedics arrived with an AED. Five shocks later, the man regained a pulse. "I remember saying to my golf buddies after saving the man's life that you better hope and pray if you ever go down ... that you are around someone who knows CPR," says Farrell, who has since become close friends with the man whose life he saved.
At the time, Farrell had no way of knowing how prophetic those words would be. On the same month the following year, Farrell collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest at his friend's house, while attending a memorial dinner. Matt Eckman, another guest, sprang into action. Eckman began furiously pushing on Farrell's chest. When responders arrived with an AED, they shocked his heart four times until he regained a pulse. At Sutter Roseville Medical Center, Farrell again went into cardiac arrest. An arrhythmia had caused his heart to stop. Hospital staff used therapeutic hypothermia to bring down his body temperature and prevent brain damage. Three days later he awoke and recognized his wife, daughters and close friends who were at the hospital. Ten days later, he was released with an implanted defibrillator.
Pneumonia slowed his recovery, Farrell says, but two months after his ordeal he was staying fit by walking five miles a day and back at work as a physical therapist.
About a month after the sudden cardiac arrest, Farrell and his wife, Edie, met Eckman and his wife for lunch. They embraced. They cried. "Words were difficult at first since I had never formally met Matt. I thanked him from the bottom of my heart for saving my life and giving me a second chance at life ... a chance of some day attending my daughters' weddings and having the opportunity to eventually enjoy grandchildren.
Francisco Tuttle
Beaufort, South Carolina
Saved at work at Charleston Imaging in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
Date of SCA: December 14, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 47
Rescued by Dr. David Goltra
Sponsor: ZOLL Medical Corporation
Francisco Tuttle, a father of three and husband of 20 years to Seretha Tuttle, was taking care of a patient as an MRI technician when he collapsed. Tuttle had a massive heart attack that led to sudden cardiac arrest. "There was no pain, no shortness of breath or any other typical warning sign," Tuttle says. Dr. David Goltra, medical director of Charleston Imaging and a neuroradiologist, mobilized his staff immediately. While other staff members began CPR and started an intravenous line, Goltra intubated. Within eight minutes, Charleston County EMS had arrived with a device that does automated chest compressions. At Roper Hospital, staff began therapeutic hypothermia, or lowering the body temperature to reduce damage to the brain.
Tuttle underwent angioplasty and was given two stents. "Incredibly, from the moment when 911 was called until Roper's Cath Lab team had finished the procedure, only 79 minutes had passed." Today, all of Charleston Imaging offices now have AEDs. Tuttle wants to thank Dr. Goltra and the staff at Charleston Imaging, Charleston EMS and Roper Hospital for saving him. "Every day in my life is even more cherished. I enjoy every breath I take. Because it's God sent."
Karen Moret
Redwood City, California
Saved at the Cal Neva Lodge & Casino in Lake Tahoe, Nev.
Date of SCA: March 13, 1998
Age at time of SCA: 39
Rescued by an unknown bystander and the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District
Sponsor: HeartSine Technologies
While dealing blackjack at a casino on the shores of Lake Tahoe, Karen Moret had the sensation that a dark cloud was passing over. She felt dizzy and faint—then collapsed in cardiac arrest. A gambler at her table happened to be a doctor who began CPR until responders from the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District arrived with a defibrillator.
When Moret woke up in the hospital after spending two days in a coma, news of what happened came as a surprise. She'd been a professional figure skater and loved to hike, swim, ski and golf. She left the hospital with an implanted defibrillator, which Moret considers her "own personal paramedic." Now 51 and the mother of a 15-year-old daughter, Moret is grateful she was given the chance to see her daughter grow up. Capt. Steve Eikam, among the first to arrive on scene, "is my savior and personal friend. I have visited him at the firehouse a few times and met many of the other firefighters there. They are my guardian angels."
She'd been a professional figure skater and loved to hike, swim, ski and golf. She left the hospital with an implanted defibrillator, which Moret considers her "own personal paramedic."
Lee Younts
Richmond, Virginia
Saved at Northern Virginia Electric in Gainesville, Va.
Date of SCA: September 21, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 34
Rescued by Dustin Dell, Justin Bastien and others
Sponsor: ZOLL Medical Corporation
"He's hit!" Lee Younts, a salesman for Utility Service Agency in Richmond, Va., was demonstrating a new electrical device at a Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative facility when he accidentally grabbed an energized part— sending 7,200 volts surging through his body. The shock caused him to go into sudden cardiac arrest. "He took a few steps towards me and collapsed at my feet," recalled Roger West, a witness. "We rolled him over on his back and the air just went out of him."
Employees of the electrical co-op undergo annual CPR and AED training. Well-prepared for such an event, they wasted no time. Dustin Dell, a line technician and volunteer fire fighter, began compressions. Others ran to get the AED, which Justin Bastien applied to Younts' chest. Younts' eyes opened after two shocks.
Younts was taken by medevac helicopter to the Burn Center at Washington Hospital Center, where doctors used therapeutic hypothermia to bring his body temperature down and reduce the chances of longterm damage from going without oxygen. Younts recovered so quickly he was discharged three days later. "Thanks to the courage of those first responders, the knowledge of the EMTs, the medical advancements of the Washington burn center, and most importantly, the power of prayer, I am alive and well today," Younts wrote in a letter to those who had rescued him.
A month later, Younts walked into the room where he'd been injured and thanked the people who brought him back to life. Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative facility employees in the auditorium erupted into applause, cheers and tears. "Watching Lee walk through that door, that was probably one of the best feelings I ever had," Dustin Dell told the TV news.
Kinlee Ryne Keltner
Morehead, Kentucky
Saved in Hope, Ind.
Date of SCA: July 16, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 2
Rescued by her father, Brian Keltner
Sponsor: National Safety Council
One summer evening, Kinlee Ryne Keltner was happily splashing in her grandfather's backyard pool with her father, Brian, and her two siblings, ages eight and six. Kinlee told her dad she needed to use the bathroom. He took off her floaties and yelled into the house to make sure Kinlee's mom, Sherridan, knew Kinlee was headed in. What happened next still stuns her father, who, as a master CPR instructor for the National Safety Council, was well aware of the dangers of pools and how quickly a child can drown. While Kinlee was in the bathroom, her mother stepped into an adjacent bedroom to change. Without her mom noticing, Kinlee then left the bathroom, pushed open the sliding glass door and went back outside. Brian, the other children and Kinlee's grandfather were still in the pool. But while their backs were turned, Kinlee slipped into the pool unnoticed.
A few moments later, Sherridan came out asking where Kinlee had gone. Worried she had gone out the front door and onto a busy street, Brian was getting out of the pool to look for her when he heard Kinlee's grandfather shout "No!" as he dragged Kinlee's lifeless body out of the water. On the pool deck, Brian Keltner immediately began chest compressions and rescue breaths. An off-duty paramedic who was in the vicinity heard the 911 call and came to help. At the hospital, Kinlee was put on a ventilator and doctors told the family they should prepare to say goodbye. Even if she lived, doctors told them, their little girl would likely suffer serious brain damage. "Praying for God's will, even if it meant letting her go, was the hardest prayer I ever had to pray," Brian Keltner says. "You hear about kids drowning on the news and you wonder, 'How can somebody let that happen to their kid? . . . and in the blink of an eye, my child was gone.'"
Defying predictions, Kinlee made a full recovery and was able to walk out of the hospital without any signs of brain damage a few days later. "There are times I lay in bed and watch Kinlee as she sleeps. Listening to her breathe, I just cry and smile knowing God has truly blessed us," Brian says.
Curtis Rosenau
Cochrane, Alberta, Canada
Saved at Spray Lakes Recreation Center in Cochrane,Alberta
Date of SCA: February 23, 2006
Age at time of SCA: 14
Rescued by his father, Lorne Rosenau
Sponsor: Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada
Every year on Feb. 23, Curtis Rosenau's family goes out to dinner to celebrate their son's "rebirth." On that day in 2006, his family nearly lost him.
Rosenau was at basketball practice when, as he puts it, his "14-year-old heart stopped beating." His father, Lorne, who was also the team's basketball coach, began CPR and shouted to the team manager to grab the rec center's AED. His father positioned the AED and shocked his son twice, but didn't get a heartbeat. A lifeguard saw the commotion and came over to help. Together, they did CPR, tried the AED again and—nothing. "As my Dad began to weaken emotionally, the lifeguard continued CPR," Curtis says.
Snow and a train crossing slowed paramedics' arrival. Curtis was still without a pulse when they arrived and got to work. It took 26 minutes and a total of 13 shocks to restore a pulse. "When I arrived at the hospital, my survival was questionable," Rosenau says. At the hospital, doctors brought down his body temperature using cooling blankets in an attempt to prevent brain damage. Rosenau was soon diagnosed with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, or CPVT, an inherited heart arrhythmia in which exercise and exertion can bring on ventricular fibrillation, which can lead to cardiac arrest. For many with CPVT, sudden cardiac death is the first and only warning.
Since his diagnosis, his father and older brother, Kellen, have also been diagnosed with CPVT. Now 18, Rosenau has an implanted defibrillator and is a freshman at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. Though he no longer plays sports competitively, he stays active and coaches a junior varsity football team. "In some ways, I am more appreciative of every day because I know how quickly life can change. I don't live in fear, but live life day by day."
Sydney Xinos
Austin, Texas
Saved outside his car by the side of the road
Date of SCA: July 17, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 62
Rescued by responders from Travis County Sheriff's Department, Westlake Fire Department and Austin Travis County EMS
Sponsor: Take Heart Austin
After a round of golf, Sydney Xinos felt anxious, sweaty and an intense pain in his left arm. Xinos called his wife on his cell phone and told her he might be in trouble. His wife told him to stay put while she called 911, but Xinos wasn't thinking clearly. He got in the car and started to drive, determined to get home. "At some level, I felt I could be dying, so I was intent on getting home to my wife." Driving erratically, Xinos was spotted by a Travis County Sheriff's Department patrol officer. Xinos pulled over to the side of the road and the officer asked if he needed help. "I told him I might be having a heart attack," Xinos says.
His wife, Fran, along with responders from Westlake Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS had just arrived when Xinos lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest. Responders did CPR, defibrillation and began cooling therapy en route to the hospital. At St. David's South Austin Medical Center, the catheterization lab was ready when he arrived, Xinos says. Now with a stent he is fully recovered, "I am more appreciative of each day and its gifts."
Chris Bader
Medford, Massachusetts
Saved at Middlesex Fells Reservation in Medford, Mass.
Date of SCA: July 15, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 53
Rescued by his wife, Debra Beard-Bader
Sponsor: American Heart Association
Debra Beard-Bader had never taken a CPR course, but that didn't stop her from saving her husband's life. The couple was walking with their three dogs at a state park when Christopher Bader collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest. She called 911. Then, for 15 harrowing minutes, Debra did 'hands-only' CPR while at the same time talking on a cell phone, directing emergency medical services to their precise location in the woods. What empowered her to act? Beard-Bader had recently seen an American Heart Association public service video about doing compression-only CPR to the beat of the Bee Gee's song, "Stayin' Alive." "I sang the song and gave directions at the same time. It was like, 'Stayin' alive, stayin' alive – take a right here, take a left here – Stayin' alive, stayin' alive – take this path down here – Stayin' alive, stayin' alive,'" Bader told CNN, in a published account of her rescue. Christopher Bader credits his wife's public defender job with her ability to stay cool under pressure. "It's a job in which you literally have to think on your feet when things that you didn't expect happen in the courtroom," Bader says.
Danna Speer
San Diego, California
Saved at a swap meet
Date of SCA: August 31, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 32
Rescued by Red Cross employee Frances Arnal
Sponsor: American Red Cross
Danna Speer and her husband, Michael, were selling clothes at a swap meet in National City, Calif. Their children—ages eight, two and two months—were at their grandma's house. Michael had just returned from scouting out the competition at the other vendors' spaces when he saw his wife's knees buckle. "It looked like the hand of God cradled her fall and laid her down on top of the pile of clothes," Michael says. He ran to her side, kneeled down and pulled her onto his lap. Realizing she wasn't breathing, he began to scream for help.
A crowd began to gather, but nobody made a move. "I was panicking. The only thing that kept going through my head was, 'I am going to lose my wife and she just died in my arms,'" Michael says.
A few minutes later, Frances Arnal, a Red Cross employee, rushed to their side and said she knew CPR. After checking Danna's pulse and airway, Arnal began compressions. Danna, who had surgery to repair a ventricular septal defect at age 18, left the hospital with an implanted defibrillator/pacemaker and has made a full recovery from her sudden cardiac arrest. "I feel very lucky. To me it was another chance at life. If Frances didn't know CPR, I wouldn't be here with my kids right now."
The swap meet gave them a free lifetime membership. "We never have to pay for our space again," Michael Speer says.
Jerry Sanders
San Diego, California
Saved at San Diego International Airport
Date of SCA: October 16, 2006
Age at time of SCA: 70
Rescued by Judy Kelly—a bystander nurse—and San Diego Harbor Police
Sponsor: Cardiac Science
It's a good thing Judy Kelly's luggage got lost, otherwise she might not have been standing at San Diego International Airport filling out a lost luggage form when she saw retired bank manager Jerry Sanders collapse in sudden cardiac arrest.
Sanders and his wife, Carole, were working together at a part-time job with a cruise line, greeting arriving passengers at the airport and assisting them onto buses for the trip to the cruise terminal. And then both of their lives changed in an instant. "Jerry had to run from one terminal to the other," remembers Carole. "I was talking to a passenger as he got back, and then all of a sudden, he fell to the ground. My first reaction was, 'He's had a heart attack and he's dead.'"
Kelly, a registered nurse who teaches CPR, sprang into action and began CPR on Jerry within seconds of his collapse. Harbor police officers arrived within two or three minutes and applied an AED, Carole says. "The whole thing was terrifying," Carole recalls. "In the ambulance, I remember the paramedic saying, 'Mr. Sanders, Mr. Sanders, stay awake,'" she says. "I was scared. He didn't wake up until later in the hospital, and he asked me, 'What happened?'" Today, Jerry works as an advocate for CPR and AEDs. He owes his life, he says, to the efforts of his rescuers and the availability of an AED that happened to be hanging on the wall just feet away from where he collapsed. "I feel lucky," he says. "What are the chances of everything falling into place like that?"
Cindy Gelormini
Escondido, California
Saved at Kit Carson Park in Escondido, Calif.
Date of SCA: May 3, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 47
Rescued by her friend, Natalie McCoy
Sponsor: San Diego Project Heart Beat
"I feel ..." Cindy Gelormini didn't get the chance to finish her sentence. One minute she and her friend of more than 30 years, Natalie McCoy, were walking in Kit Carson Park in Escondido. The next minute, Gelormini was on the ground in sudden cardiac arrest, and McCoy was on the phone with an emergency dispatcher, who was giving McCoy step-by-step CPR instructions to save Gelormini's life. Responders arrived within moments with an AED, shocked Gelormini's heart back into a rhythm and whisked her to the hospital, where physicians used therapeutic hypothermia to bring down her body temperature and ward off long-term neurological damage. She received an implanted defibrillator and went home after 10 days. Though their story had a happy ending, talking about Gelormini's near death afterward was difficult for the longtime friends. "I love her to death. She's always been a great friend. I always thought she'd be there for me if I needed her, and she was," Gelormini says.
The next minute, Gelormini was on the ground in sudden cardiac arrest, and McCoy was on the phone with an emergency dispatcher, who was giving McCoy step-by-step CPR instructions.
Caralee Weich
Morgan Hill, California
Saved outside a San Francisco theater
Date of SCA: March 20, 2004
Age at time of SCA: 57
Rescued by bystander Ron Racherby and Sebastian Wong of the San Francisco Fire Department
Sponsor: ZOLL Medical Corporation
It was supposed to be a joyful, exciting time for Caralee Weich and her family. Her daughter, Amy, was getting married. As a kickoff to the wedding festivities, Weich and her daughter went to see "Mama Mia!" at a San Francisco theater. "I was 57, working full time, exercising four to five times a week, healthy and enjoying my life," Weich says. Walking out of the theater, Weich felt dizzy. Moment later, she collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest. Ron Racherby, a cardiac nurse, was passing by and stopped to begin CPR. Another nurse whose name Weich never learned, also stopped to help. Soon, responders from the San Francisco Fire Department, including Sebastian Wong, who is now the department's EMS Chief, showed up with a device that does automated chest compressions. Though without a pulse for 28 minutes, Weich made a full recovery and was able to walk her daughter down the aisle. This meant the world to her daughters, Amy and Shannon. They had lost their father in a helicopter crash when they were just six months and three years old. The thought of losing their mother, Amy says, was too much to bear. "My mom is everything to my sister and me. She is our best friend. We were very, very grateful."
Though without a pulse for 28 minutes, Weich made a full recovery and was able to walk her daughter down the aisle.
Rex Veeder
Brainerd, Minnesota
Saved at home in St. Cloud, Minn.
Date of SCA: June 28, 2007
Age at time of SCA: 60
Rescued by his wife, Marcia Veeder
Sponsor: Take Heart America
After returning home from an evening with friends, Rex Veeder told his wife of 25 years, Marcia, that he was feeling unusually tired and went to bed. Soon after, she heard him gasping for air. Realizing his heart had stopped, Marcia began CPR until responders arrived. At the hospital, doctors used therapeutic hypothermia to bring down his body temperature, and reduce the chances of permanent brain damage.
When Veeder left the hospital, he tried to jump back into his job as a university vice president. But job stress, coupled with new medications and dealing with the trauma of sudden cardiac arrest was taking its toll. He began to suffer panic attacks. He'd start to sweat profusely, and text would swim on the page. He felt he was "running twice as fast to get half as far," Veeder says. "After a cardiac arrest, you have to reset your mind, your body and your spirit. You don't work like a computer where you can just shut yourself off and turn back on."
He decided to reassess his priorities. He gave up the administrative position to focus on teaching and now works as a professor of English, teaching classes in civic engagement and writing at St. Cloud State University. He's taken more time to pursue his artistic passions, including writing and directing a musical. One message he's trying to impart to students is their ability to make a difference in their community by drawing on their experiences. "I had to reinvent myself over the last three years. I'm different now. A lot of me is like I was before the sudden cardiac arrest, but a lot of me isn't. I learned that recovery is an important part of learning how to live."
Matthew Nader
Austin, Texas
Saved during a Westlake High School football game in College Station, Texas
Date of SCA: September 15, 2006
Age at time of SCA: 17
Rescued by his mom, Dr. Barbara Bergin, dad Dr. Paul Nader and Dr. Paul Tucker
Sponsor: American Heart Association
Fifteen rows up in the stands during a Westlake High School football game, with 4,500 spectators watching, Barbara Bergin and Paul Nader heard another parent shouting their name. The looked down to see their son, 17-year-old Matthew Nader, a star offensive lineman, lying on his back on the sidelines. Bergin and Nader, both physicians, leaped out of their seats and ran toward their son. They found him unconscious, not breathing and without a pulse. Matthew's father began compressions while his mother did rescue breaths.
In the stands, other parents—who also happened to be doctors—saw what was happening and came running. Cardiologist Paul Tucker called for the AED that the team brought to games while anesthesiologists Allen Dornak and Greg Kronberg relieved Matthew's parents and took over doing CPR. Tucker restored Matt's pulse with a single shock from the AED.
Before his sudden cardiac arrest, Matthew planned to make football his life. He had been accepted to the University of Texas on a football scholarship and dreamed of playing in the NFL. But Matthew woke up in the hospital to learn he needed an implanted defibrillator and would never play football again. "My mental recovery was harder than my physical. But with the help of my parents, coaches and friends, I've been able to do something positive from this."
Now 21, Matthew has become an advocate for AEDs in schools, and speaks to organizations nationwide about the importance of AEDs in public places. His testimony in front of the University Interscholastic League Medical Advisory Board helped change its official stance on AEDs from "encouraged" to "required." And thanks in part to Matthew's efforts to raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest, in Sept. 2007, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 7 into law at Westlake High School. The law requires all Texas public schools, athletic events and practices to have an AED readily available. What does he have to say about his mom and dad? He loves them, of course. "They gave me my life, twice."
Celine Showman
Oceanside, California
Saved in a Vista, Calif. restaurant
Date of SCA: December 14, 2007
Age at time of SCA: 33
Rescued by bystanders Maggie Reusi, Marvin Flores and William Vega and Jake Shumante and Capt. Joe Napier from the Vista Fire Department
Sponsor: San Diego Project Heart Beat
Celine Showman had planned on spending an evening out with her eight-year-old daughter, Megan. They'd have dinner at a Japanese restaurant and then catch "Alvin and the Chipmunks" at the movies. But midway through dinner, Showman fell off her stool and crashed to the floor in a clatter of dishes—a victim of sudden cardiac arrest. Megan, terrified to see the color draining her mother's face, screamed for help.
Three Navy corpsman—Maggie Reusi, Marvin Flores and William Vega—happened to be having dinner at a table nearby. They didn't hesitate when they heard the little girl cry out. They called 911 and ran over to Showman to begin CPR. Jake Shumante and Capt. Joe Napier from the Vista Fire Department were nearby when the 911 call came in. They arrived within two minutes and restarted Showman's heartbeat by shocking her with an AED. While responders worked, the trio of corpsman contacted Showman's husband, Bill, and comforted their frightened little girl. "Not only did they save my life, but they took care of the love of my life, my daughter," Showman says.
At Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, physicians used therapeutic hypothermia to bring down her body temperature and reduce the chances of permanent brain damage. After several days in a coma, she woke up. Showman had surgery and was given an implanted defibrillator in case her heart should stop again. Showman returned home to her family on a very special Christmas Day.
David Belkin
Bethesda, Maryland
Saved at Lakeview Elementary School in Honesdale, Pa.
Date of SCA: February 18, 2007
Age at time of SCA: 65
Rescued by Dr. Roman Matlaga and other bystanders
Sponsor: Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation
During a physical on Feb. 9, 2007, David Belkin's physician told him he was in excellent health. Nine days later, Belkin collapsed in cardiac arrest while playing basketball at an elementary school. His fellow basketball player, Dr. Roman Matlaga, an emergency room physician, knew what to do. After feeling that Belkin had no pulse, Matlaga performed chest compressions while another player assisted with mouth-to-mouth breathing. A third player went searching for an AED. One of his first stops was in the school auditorium, where a church was holding its Sunday service. Hearing that a man in the room next door was close to death, the entire congregation began to pray.
Perhaps their prayers and well-wishes did the trick—the janitor also happened to be in the auditorium and knew where the AED was located. He went running to retrieve it. "It was a total team effort," Matlaga says. The "team" had revived Belkin even before EMS arrived. His first words: "Did we win?"
Three years later, Belkin still marvels at how quickly life can change. When he arrived for the game, he hardly knew the other player's names. Today, he owes his life to them. Without their quick action and the AED, "I would not be here today." Belkin has since become a member of the board of directors for the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation.
David Krogh
Chula Vista, California
Saved on a lawn near his home
Date of SCA: March 29, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 52
Rescued by an unknown Good Samaritan, the Chula Vista Fire Department and American Medical Response
Sponsor: ZOLL Medical Corporation
David Krogh was mowing the grass on a beautiful Sunday afternoon when he collapsed without warning. A passing motorist saw him drop, slammed on the brakes, left her car parked in the middle of the street, called 911 and started CPR. A four minutes later, Chula Vista Fire Department firefighters arrived on scene and began defibrillation. While firefighters and responders from American Medical Response worked to revive him, his unknown rescuer "slipped away," Krogh says.
He's visited the firefighters and paramedics who responded to the 911 call to express his gratitude. He'd love to have the chance to thank the woman who was caring and courageous enough to stop and save a stranger's life. "My Good Samaritan—I don't even know her name. I've never been able to say 'thank you' to her, and may never be able to, this side of heaven."
Brandon Koskitalo
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Date of SCA: Nov. 2, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 13
Saved at James Keating Elementary School in Ontario
Rescued by Vice Principal Sara Knight and Southern
Georgian Bay Ontario Provincial Police Constables
Robin Chiasson and Peter Hunter
Sponsor: Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada
Brandon Koskitalo, an eighth grader at James Keating Elementary School
in Ontario, Canada, knew he had a heart problem. He lived with his aunt
and uncle, Barton and Sherry Bryant, who made sure his school was aware.
“They put posters up with my picture, medical condition and signs and
symptoms to watch for,” Brandon says. “But even with this, we never
thought cardiac arrest would happen.”
Brandon collapsed while playing tag during physical education class.
His schoolmates ran to get help. Vice Principal Sara Knight ran outside with
the school’s AED. She and another teacher were doing CPR when police
constables Robin Chiasson and Peter Hunter arrived to assist with giving
shocks.
Brandon’s next recollection is of waking up at Sick Children’s Hospital
in Toronto, “hooked up to tubes and wires and I was scared.” After nine
days in the hospital, Brandon went home with a pacemaker and implanted
defibrillator.
Though it’s not easy to be 14 and living with a heart condition, his
Aunt Sherry and Uncle Bart help him look at life as a “glass half full, even
with all my activity restrictions … I am so lucky for everyone who participated
in saving my life that day. They were all there at the right time, and
they are my heroes.”
Brandon is also thankful for the AED, which had been placed in his
school the previous year with the help of the Chase McEachern Tribute
Fund. Chase, an 11-year-old boy with a heart condition, had advocated for
mandatory AEDs in school before his death from cardiac arrest in 2006.
Brandon had moved to the school only two months before his collapsed
in sudden cardiac arrest. His previous school did not have an AED. “I have
been told that if it were not for that AED, I would most likely not be sitting
here today.”
Natasha Fleischman
Lake Elmo, Minnesota
Saved at St. Paul Public Schools district office in St. Paul, Minn.
Date of SCA: January 24, 2002
Age at time of SCA: 33
Rescued by Will Waterkamp
Sponsor: Take Heart America
The day she nearly died was a morning like any other for Natasha Fleischman, a 33-year-old mother of two young children. She said goodbye to her husband, dropped her kids at the sitter and headed to work as a program coordinator for St. Paul Public Schools.
She went into sudden cardiac arrest during a lunch meeting. One of her colleagues ran for help. Will Waterkamp, the school district's director of safety and security, ran into the room and began chest compressions. The St. Paul Fire Department arrived moments later with an AED. It took five shocks to get her heart going again. At the hospital, Fleischman's family "began the longest wait of their lives," Fleischman says, to find out if "she would live and, if she did, would she be the fully functioning woman they knew and loved."
Diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, or a weakened and enlarged heart, Fleischman was given an implanted defibrillator and put on medications. Her heart function is now in the "normal range," she says. Waterkamp is her hero. "Without him, I would not be here." Today, Fleischman, 42, volunteers with WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, and as a program manager for Take Heart Minnesota.
Raymond Gee Sr.
Binghamton, New York
Saved at Conklin Players Club Golf Course in Conklin, N.Y.
Date of SCA: August 13, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 60
Rescued by Bill Gorman and fellow golfers
Sponsor: HeartSine Technologies
Raymond Gee Sr. and Bill Gorman, friends for 30 years, looked forward to their Friday night golf league games. One summer evening, Gee remembers admiring his friend's putt—then waking up in the hospital and being told he had nearly died. When Gorman saw his friend lying on the grass, he thought for a second that Gee was fooling around. But it didn't take long for Gorman, a volunteer firefighter for 29 years with the Conklin Volunteer Fire Department, to realize it was no joke.
Gorman began chest compressions. When fellow golfer Brian Bailey saw what was happening, he ran up to see how he could help. Gorman told Bailey to take over chest compressions, while he did mouth-to-mouth. At the same time, Matt Smith ran to the clubhouse to retrieve the AED. Gorman shocked Gee's heart and revived him on scene. A week later, Gee had recovered enough to return to his job as a steel structure draftsman. "Sometimes I just sit here and feel real lucky to be here. I get all tingling and emotional when I think of the alternative," Gee says.
Tom Maimone
Delray Beach, Florida
Saved on a driveway in Delray Beach
Date of SCA: April 25, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 52
Rescued by Tom Elowson, Gary Corvino and City of Delray Beach Fire-Rescue
Sponsor: American Heart Association
Tom Maimone looked like the picture of health. A dedicated runner, Maimone was slim, watched his diet, didn't smoke or drink alcohol and worked out nearly every day. He was on the ninth mile of a planned 10-mile run when he collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest. A neighbor in a car saw him go down and immediately called 911. Tom Elowson and Robin Saraceno happened to be driving by and stopped. Meanwhile, another couple, Gary and Cathy Corvino, saw the commotion and pulled over, too. No one in the group knew much about CPR, but Elowson remembered seeing a "Today Show" segment on doing chest compressions to the rhythm of the Bee Gee's song "Stayin' Alive." "It was enough to give me the confidence to try it," Elowson told the Today Show. For nine minutes, Gary Corvino did mouth-to-mouth while Tom Elowson did chest compressions. Delray Beach Fire-Rescue showed up soon and defibrillated his heart twice to restore a pulse. Maimone had suffered a heart attack due to a blocked artery that had rapidly progressed to cardiac arrest. "On April 25 I died. I got a new birthday and I'm back, thanks to perfect strangers," Maimone says.
Michelle Jackson
San Diego, California
Saved at Zamorano Elem. School of Fine Arts in San Diego
Date of SCA: September 3, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 39
Rescued by teacher Barbi Kitchen, nurse Janet Faught; and Bill Moores and Curtis Bennett of San Diego Fire-Rescue
Sponsor: James O. Page Foundation
It was the second day of school. Michelle Jackson's kindergarten class had just been dismissed and they were happily bolting out the door. Jackson was sitting at her desk, planning the next day with a student teacher when she collapsed out of her chair. The student teacher shouted for help. First grade teacher Barbi Kitchen and school nurse Janet Faught came running. When they realized Jackson wasn't breathing and had no pulse, they worked together to do CPR until responders from San Diego Fire-Rescue arrived with an AED. "I was happy it didn't happen in front of the kids, but I was really happy it happened in front of another person who was able to help me right away. I just happened to have a student teacher in my room. She was my lifesaver," Jackson says.
In the ambulance, Jackson started to awaken. "They told me I was trying to pull out my IVs," she says. "I think I was a fighter because I knew I needed to be there for my children and my husband." Her son was nine and her daughter was six when Jackson went into cardiac arrest.
Jackson was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle that can lead to abnormal heart rhythms and sudden cardiac arrest. She left the hospital with an implanted defibrillator/pacemaker. Jackson was back in her classroom in time to make handprint turkeys and lead a scavenger hunt (a "turkey hunt") with her kindergarten class before Thanksgiving. "I am very, very lucky," she says.
Alan Doucet
Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada
Saved at Bathurst High School gym
Date of SCA: February 10, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 47
Rescued by Brad McLellan and police officer Monique Morin
Sponsor: Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada
Alan Doucet, a science teacher, junior varsity basketball coach and former star basketball player at Bathurst High School in New Brunswick, Canada, knows all too well about the fragility of life. In January 2008, his community experienced an unthinkable tragedy: Seven members of the high school's varsity basketball team and a teacher were killed when the van carrying them lost control on an icy road and were hit by an oncoming truck. The close-knit town of 12,000 was grief-stricken. "It was devastating," Doucet says. "It hit home for all of us—nothing compared to what the family members went through, but we are very close here." The basketball team was temporarily disbanded.
But eight months later, Doucet began to think it might be good for the students to get back onto the court. "We asked the boys what they wanted to do, and they wanted to play," Doucet says. Initially, the goal was to help the kids through their grief by letting them play. But even with only eight players, the team surprised everyone with a 24-game winning streak.
Doucet had just finished an interview with a local reporter during practice when, without warning, Doucet dropped to the floor in sudden cardiac arrest. Brad McLellan, his assistant coach, began chest compressions. A student held Doucet's hand and begged him to stay with them. About eight minutes later, Bathurst City Police Officer Monique Morin arrived with an AED in her vehicle.
"Because of their efforts I can continue to enjoy this wonderful world," says Doucet, a father of five children ages 6 to 21, whose wife, Cindy, teaches math and at-risk youth at the high school. Doucet now has an implanted defibrillator. "I plan to walk my three beautiful daughters down the aisle someday. I get to watch my two sons grow before my eyes into young productive men. And of course I get to travel on through life with my best friend who I hope to walk hand in hand with into our golden years." He continues to coach the basketball team that means so much to him and his community. "Our motto is 'for the love of it'—for the love of the game, and for each other'," Doucet says.
Jim Niskanen
Modesto, California
Saved at Oglebay Resort and Conference Center in Wheeling, W. Va.
Date of SCA: August 24, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 55
Rescued by Amy Fortenberry and Lisa Cline
Sponsor: Physio-Control
While giving a presentation at a National Recreation and Park Association meeting, Jim Niskanen, then parks and recreation director for Modesto, Calif., began sweating profusely. Soon, he collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest, striking his head on the podium. Amy Fortenberry, director of Parks and Recreation for Plano, Texas and Lisa Cline, director of services at Odessa College in Texas, sprang into action. Realizing Niskanen had no pulse, they began CPR. Fortenberry did chest compressions while Cline did rescue breaths. Others in the audience called 911 and went to retrieve the conference center's AED. Two shocks later and Niskanen had recovered enough to ask if someone could finish his presentation.
Audience members later told him it took some 10 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, which would have meant almost certain death for Niskanen had it not been for those willing to do CPR and operate the AED. At Wheeling Hospital, Niskanen learned he had blocked arteries and underwent bypass surgery. He was later given an implanted defibrillator/pacemaker. "I will always be grateful to those who stepped in to respond to my SCA." His brother, Bob Niskanen, who started Take Heart America years earlier, makes reference to Jim's event at every opportunity. "This was almost a perfect example of the 'Chain of Survival,'" he said.
The following week, Jim was supposed to be the best man in his son's wedding, which was postponed so Jim could attend. The following year, Niskanen went back to the conference center to finally finish his lecture. His rescuers, Fortenberry and Cline, were both in the audience. "It was a very emotional reunion for all of us," Niskanen says. To reduce stress, he retired from his full-time job, enabling him to spend more time with his wife, four children and two grandchildren. "My overall health has greatly improved. I have not experienced any cardiac-related problems for over two years. I have returned to a near normal lifestyle and love to tell my story to anyone who will listen."
Thomas Jeffers
Detroit, Michigan
Saved at GM Renaissance Center in Detroit
Date of SCA: July 15, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 42
Rescued by first responders
Sponsor: OnStar
"As a very fit young man, I refused to believe it was a heart attack, although my father had one in his 40s," recalls Thomas Jeffers about the morning he experienced sudden cardiac arrest. Jeffers had been cycling with his triathlon team when he began to feel nauseous, headachy and tingling down his left arm. At the office, he went to his company's health clinic, but refused to go to the emergency room or allow anyone to call for an ambulance. But as his symptoms continued to worsen, Jeffers finally relented—just in the nick of time.
Jeffers went into cardiac arrest just as emergency medical services arrived. Responders immediately began CPR and defibrillation. He's "incredibly grateful" to the responders who saved him. The close call, he says, "provides me with even more conviction to work to save more lives every day at OnStar," which uses GPS technology to enable emergency responders to locate vehicles that have been in accidents. Jeffers is OnStar's vice president of public policy.
James Odgers
Holiday, Florida
Saved at Tampa International Airport
Date of SCA: January 3, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 61
Rescued by his co-workers, Southwest Airlines employees Mark Lovell, Rick Derby, Chris Scangarello, and Nui Abquin
Sponsor: National Safety Council
James Odgers was at work outside the Tampa International Airport. As passengers embarked and debarked, amidst the roar of the massive jets coming and going, and without warning, he collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest. Without hesitation, four of his co-workers—Mark Lovell, Rick Derby, Chris Scangarello and Nui Ahquin—rushed to his side and began CPR. For the next four to five minutes, they kept blood and oxygen moving throughout his body with compressions.
When responders arrived with an AED, they took over chest compressions and shocked Odgers three times with an AED to restore a heartbeat. In the hospital, he was given an implanted defibrillator and two stents. Four months later he was back at work, alongside the co-workers who had saved him. "I continue to enjoy the great life I have, a great job, great family," he says. It's all possible because his rescuers "took the time to learn CPR and realized the importance of being trained properly."
Matthew Keene
Berlin, New Hampshire
Saved at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H.
Date of SCA: October 18, 2006
Age at time of SCA: 17
Rescued by Lawrence Mcleod, Jim and Sandy Oullette, Robert Hyiek and Katherine Bello
Sponsor: ZOLL Medical Corporation
College roommates can find themselves at odds over who gets the top bunk or the bigger closet. You can bet Matthew Keene and his roommate, Lawrence Mcleod aren't sweating the small stuff.
When Keene was 17, he collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest during football practice at Kimball Union Academy. Mcleod, his teammate, was the first to drop to his knees and begin CPR. "It would be hard to imagine not having the amazing friends I have now," says Keene, who along with McLeod is now a student at University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics.
Keene, a seemingly strong and fit lineman, began having trouble breathing during sprints toward the end of practice. He told his coach, who had him rest. Moments later, Keene was lying on the field, turning blue. While Mcleod did CPR, a school nurse and athletic trainer rushed onto the field with an AED. Two shocks later, Keene's heart was beating again.
Keene knows he was fortunate: Kimball Union Academy had two AEDs and school officials had plans to purchase three more. "If it wasn't for the procedures put in place, I would not be here," Keene says. Wanting to make sure others would have the same chance, Keene began working to get more AEDs into public places. He testified before Congress about the need for AEDs and helped set up a foundation to raise money to purchase AEDs for every school in Berlin, N.H. "If I can raise awareness that helps save even one life, it will be worth it," Keene says.
Juddson Rupp
Charlotte, North Carolina
Saved at a YMCA in Charlotte
Date of SCA: October 26, 2000
Age at time of SCA: 35
Rescued by Dr. Tom Barringer
Sponsor: Laerdal Medical
Juddson Rupp wasn't the first man to suffer a sudden cardiac arrest at the Dowd YMCA in Charlotte. A few months before, another man died when his heart stopped beating at the facility. The tragedy prompted the YMCA to raise money to purchase an AED so they could be ready the next time.
The AED, having arrived just a few weeks before, was still in its box when Rupp collapsed while lifting weights. Dr. Tom Barringer, a family practice physician and director of Presbyterian Novant Heart and Wellness, happened to be on a stationary bike nearby, jumped off and began CPR. "Did we get that AED?" he asked a staff member, who knew where it was and ran to get it. Barringer administered the shocks.
"What does one say or do for somebody who has saved your life? 'Thank you' does not do it justice," Rupp says. Now, 45, he will be forever grateful for the opportunity to see his children grow up. His daughter, Brecken, was just two months old when he almost died, and his son, Baron, was just two. Recently, he saw his daughter, now 10, do a spectacular back hand spring in gymnastics and his son, now 12, throw a perfect game in Little League. "It's moments like those that get me. When I think I almost didn't get to see any of this, it just hits me." Today, Rupp never misses a Sunday Mass. He counts his blessings daily. And he spends every moment he can with his family. "We do so much together as a family and I wouldn't have it any other way." Seeing their triumphs and thinking about all the birthdays, holidays and family outings they've shared over the past decade, "I cannot believe I almost missed all that."
Ken Anderson, MD
San Diego, California
Saved at Lake Murray Tennis Club in San Diego
Date of SCA: September 26, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 53
Rescued by Todd and Sue Sprague
Sponsor: SeaWorld San Diego
As a family practice and sports medicine physician, Kenneth Anderson had twice stepped up to do CPR outside of the hospital—once at a tennis tournament, when a spectator collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest, and another time, during a golf tournament, when a volunteer security guard's heart stopped beating.
Anderson never considered that sudden cardiac arrest could happen to him. Though high cholesterol ran in his family, he'd recently gone on a statin to get it under control. He played tennis several times a week and never had any symptoms of heart trouble.
It was while playing tennis with his wife and another couple that, without warning, Anderson's knees buckled and he fell to the ground. While his wife called 911, their tennis partners, Todd and Sue Sprague, worked to resuscitate him. Todd began chest compressions while Sue ran for the tennis club's AED—which had been donated by San Diego Project Heart Beat. The couple had never been trained in CPR. Todd later said he tried to do compressions based on what his daughter had told him about her lifeguard training. They were able to deliver two shocks using the AED and revived Anderson.
At the hospital, doctors cleared a blockage from Anderson's artery and inserted a stent. Two weeks later, Anderson, who is also medical director for SeaWorld San Diego, was back at work. "It's incredible that the Spragues were able to do what they did, especially with no training. To me that says a lot about AEDs—they really can be used by anybody."
George Johnston
San Diego, California
Saved on a San Diego beach
Date of SCA: July 24, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 59
Rescued by City of San Diego Lifeguards
Sponsor: Cardiac Science
"Praise God today—because of an AED I am able to give testimony and help others," says George Johnston. The San Diego man was doing what he loves, bodysurfing with a friend, when he felt a pain in his upper back. He began to feel dizzy as he waded to shore. Then it was "lights out," Johnston recalls. A lifeguard spotted him floating face down, pulled him to shore and began CPR. A few moments later, another lifeguard drove up in a Jeep with an AED and administered the shocks.
Surviving cardiac arrest has changed his outlook on life, bringing him a greater sense of "humbleness and an appreciation of everything."
Fellow rafters quickly got to work, cutting off his gear, doing CPR, shocking his heart with an AED and calling for help using a satellite phone.
Joel Scott
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
Saved on a riverbank near Veracruz, Mexico
Date of SCA: November 18, 2008
Age of time of SCA: 25
Rescued by his brother, Jordan and members of a white-water adventure crew
Sponsor: Laerdal Medical
"Thanks little brother." Joel Scott had said it a hundred times before, but never was it so heartfelt as the day he woke up from a sudden cardiac arrest.
Brothers Joel, 25, and Jordan, 21, were true adventurers. They'd traveled North America rock climbing and ice climbing, whitewater kayaking and canoeing, skydiving and surfing. One summer, they worked for a forestry company planting trees in the Rocky Mountains to earn money to kayak and whitewater raft from Quebec to Mexico.
The brothers were on their final 50-mile stretch of river near Veracruz, Mexico when Jordan saw Joel flip out of his kayak. Jordan paddled over and dragged Joel onto the riverbank. The owner of the rafting company had a well-stocked medical raft that included an AED. Fellow rafters quickly got to work, cutting off his gear, doing CPR, shocking his heart with an AED and calling for help using a satellite phone. When Joel regained a pulse, they picked him up, carried him out of the canyon and onto the road, where the owner of the adventure company whisked Joel to the hospital.
Diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or a thickening of the heart muscle, Joel had surgery and was given an implanted defibrillator. Since his near death, Jordan and his brother have continued their adventures. They bought a limousine and drove it from Ontario to Newfoundland, stopping to whitewater kayak all along the way. He's gone mountain climbing in New Zealand and taught ice climbing in Muskoka, Ontario.
Before his sudden cardiac arrest, Joel didn't think much of risking his life in the wilderness. But seeing how devastated his family would have been to lose him has made him more cautious, he said. He's studying psychology at Memorial University of Newfoundland and is taking a break from globe-trotting to the world's most dangerous places. "It had such an effect on my family," Joel said. "I try to take it a little bit more easy now."
Alan Blostein
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Saved at home
Date of SCA: January 28, 2005
Age at time of SCA: 48
Rescued by his son, Scott Blostein
Sponsor: ACT Foundation of Canada
When Scott Blostein's younger sister frantically shook him awake at 5 a.m. one dark winter morning, the teen knew something was seriously wrong. "Dad isn't waking up," said 12-year-old Amy, panic in her voice. A few minutes earlier, Amy had woken up with a headache and gone into her parents' room for an aspirin. Now awake as well, her mother, Margo, noticed her husband, Alan, was making odd noises and looked blue. "I jumped out of bed and tried to shake him, telling him to wake up," Margo says. Amy ran for her brother, Scott, who'd learned CPR during his physical education class at Brookfield High School in Ottawa. The class was offered through the Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation's High School CPR Program. "I rolled him over and right away I knew what I had to do," Scott says.
Scott and his 15-year old brother Matt, who by now was awake too, lifted their father onto the floor while their mother called 911. After checking his father's pulse and finding he didn't have one, Scott began CPR. "When I was doing CPR on my dad, I was thinking of all the training I got," he says. "It came naturally." Alan Blostein has since made a full recovery from his cardiac arrest. "When I think back to what happened, I'm so proud and grateful that my son saved my life," Alan says. To which Scott replies: "The biggest honor was giving life back to the man who gave me life."
Laura Geraghty
North Attleboro, Massachusetts
Saved in parking lot of Newton South H.S. near Boston
Date of SCA: April 1, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 45
Rescued by Gail Kramer and Michelle Coppola
Sponsor: ZOLL Medical Corporation
Laura Geraghty, a school bus driver for special needs children, was headed to Newton South High School outside Boston when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She asked the teacher's aide riding along with her for an antacid. But as the pain worsened and shot up her arm and into her chest, Geraghty knew she was having a heart attack. She managed to get back to the school's parking lot and park the bus. The aide ran into the school to get help. By that time, Geraghty was having trouble breathing. She soon went into cardiac arrest.
School nurse Gail Kramer and CPR instructor Michelle Coppola came running with the school's AED. The two teamed up doing chest compressions and administering shocks until responders arrived. All told, it took 21 shocks and 57 minutes for bystanders, emergency medical responders and emergency department doctors at the hospital to restore Geraghty's heartbeat.
"There are really no words to describe the warm thoughts and thankfulness" to those who saved her, Geraghty says. "And a special thanks to Dr. Bill O'Callahan, an emergency physician at Newtown-Wellesley Hospital, for not 'calling me' and giving me that last shock." Geraghty was sent to Massachusetts General Hospital's catheterization lab, where she underwent heart surgery.
Ten months later, Geraghty was shopping at Wal-Mart when she saw a crowd gathered around a man lying on the floor. Geraghty ran over to him and realizing he wasn't breathing, began CPR. Though Geraghty was able to revive the man, he died the next day at the hospital.
"It was very, very difficult for me to find out the man has passed away," Geraghty says. "I felt guilty I survived and he didn't. But I eventually came to terms with it. He didn't die on a concrete floor. He died in a bed. His wife and his family got to say goodbye. I did what I was supposed to do. The rest was no longer in my hands. And I found peace with that."
Brian Duffield
Tucson, Arizona
Saved at the University of Arizona Aquatic Center
Date of SCA: May 23, 2006
Age at time of SCA: 40
Rescued by Dianne Wygal-Springer, a paramedic with the Tucson Fire Department
Sponsor: University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center
It's a good thing Dianne Wygal-Springer, a paramedic with the Tucson Fire Department, likes to swim. After working out with his masters swim group, Brian Duffield collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest in the locker room. Another swimmer came running out of the locker room, shouting for help. Wygal-Springer knew precisely what to do. She began continuous chest compressions while calling for someone to get the aquatic center's AED. Soon, other responders from the Tucson Fire Department arrived to assist. From there, it was only a two-block ride to the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center/University Medical Center, where physicians immediately began cooling his body temperature to reduce the chances of brain damage from the lack of oxygen. In the catheter lab, doctors reopened a blocked coronary artery and inserted a stent. "Four days later I awoke in the ICU completely unaware of what happened and extremely thankful for the fortunate series of events!"
Wygal-Springer knew precisely what to do. She began continuous chest compressions while calling for someone to get the aquatic center's AED.
Corissa Joy Viveros
Albany, California
Saved at the Meal Ticket, a restaurant in Berkeley, Calif. where she worked
Date of SCA: November 15, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 31
Rescued by bystander James Carter, and Dan Green, Brian Alexander, Tyre Mills, Nate Girard and Shane Marbury of the Berkeley Fire Department
Sponsor: Take Heart America
Corissa Joy Viveros was at work waiting tables at Meal Ticket when she collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest. She wasn't feeling well that day. Though she has no recollection of the hours leading up to her cardiac arrest, she was later told she had complained to co-workers about feeling pain going down her arm. Her boss, James Carter, had taken a CPR course some 30 years ago and immediately began compressions. "He knew it was do or die. He figured bad CPR is better than no CPR," Viveros says. Responders from Berkeley Fire Department arrived within four minutes and took over. Three shocks from the AED and her heart was beating again. At the hospital, doctors used therapeutic hypothermia to cool her body. After four days in a coma, Viveros awoke. "I was in a bad mood!" When she came to more fully, her confusion gave way to gratitude for her rescuers. She was told the cardiac arrest was caused by a congenital narrowing of an artery in her heart. Surgeons fixed it with a stent. "I feel like one seriously lucky girl to still have the chance to mother my baby." Her son, Rocky, is now three. "He's a really fun, loving, incredibly affectionate child. I love being around him."
Mike Connolly
Vista, California
Saved at home
Date of SCA: January 31, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 56
Rescued by responders from the City of Vista Fire Department
Sponsor: American Red Cross
In all their years of seeing patients, Mike Connolly's doctors said they've never seen someone go without oxygen for as long as he did and make such a remarkable recovery. Connolly, a lot manager at a Porsche dealership, had the day off and was preparing to eat a bowl of cereal when his heart stopped. His wife, Loris, who was getting ready for work, heard a strange sound. Thinking it was coming from outside, "I casually went out to the living room to vent my frustration to Mike," Loris says, "And then I found him, dead in his chair." She knew she should do CPR, but her 6-feet, 8-inch, 300-lb husband was reclining in his easy chair—and she couldn't budge him.
By the time responders from the Vista Fire Department arrived and restored his heartbeat with CPR and seven shocks from an AED, his brain had gone an estimated 10 minutes, and maybe more, without oxygen. At Tri-City Medical Center, doctors used therapeutic hypothermia to bring down his body temperature.
In the meantime, Connolly's son, brothers and sisters-in-law began to gather at the hospital. Over the next few days, the family waited anxiously for Connolly to wake up from a coma. But as the days wore on and he remained unconscious, they began to fear the worst. His family prepared themselves to remove Connolly from life support. Later that day, his son was reading a passage from the Bible when Connolly awoke. "They were getting ready to pull the plug that day," Connolly says.
A year after his sudden cardiac arrest, Connolly has an implanted defibrillator/pacemaker and lingering, but mild, neurological problems as a result of the sudden cardiac arrest. He's back at work and rides a recumbent bicycle during his lunch break. "Life is way more precious to me. We take it for granted. So much of it seems to be drudgery. But it's amazing how you do see it differently when you almost die," he says. Humor has helped him recover emotionally. "I went to the fire house to thank the guys that saved me. I told them I wanted to talk to the guy that cut my favorite T-shirt off me," Connolly says. "He said, 'If it makes you feel any better, I got Raisin Bran all over my pants.'"
Renee Jones
San Diego, California
Saved at home in San Leandro, Calif.
Date of SCA: September 7, 1997
Age at time of SCA: 31
Rescued by her (now former) husband Marc Jones, an emerency medical technician
Sponsor: San Diego Project Heart Beat
Being an emergency medical technician means working long and odd hours. But on Sept. 7, 1997, Marc Jones managed to get a few hours off from his shift to have a romantic dinner at home with his wife, Renee, to celebrate their five-year anniversary.
Their five-year-old daughter, Ashley, was sleeping over at a friend's house and the two were sharing a rare moment alone when Renee collapsed. Though he could hardly believe his young wife was in sudden cardiac arrest, Marc Jones was trained for moments such as this. He immediately began CPR until she had a pulse—though it was weak and erratic
—and called 911. When responders arrived, Renee was lucid enough to remind her husband that she was in a red nightgown, and wasn't exactly dressed for visitors. Then she fell unconscious again.
Her heart stopped again twice while in the ambulance and three more times at the hospital. Each time, responders and physicians used a defibrillator to shock her heart back to life. In the waiting room at the emergency department, Marc's friends and colleagues tried to comfort him.
Eventually, doctors were able to stabilize her. She underwent surgery to have an implanted defibrillator placed in her chest. "My ICD [implantable cardiac defibrillator] has been the best insurance policy I've ever had," Renee says.
Renee and her husband divorced and Renee has remarried. She thanks her current husband, Grant, for his support and remains "eternally grateful" to Marc, she says. "I am so thankful for all the people who helped me survive including my former husband, paramedics, ER docs, nurses and cardiologists ... If it weren't for these people I wouldn't have been here to raise my amazing daughter, who is now 17 and a senior in high school and the love of my life."
Paul Moore
San Diego, California
Saved at home
Date of SCA: February 26, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 59
Rescued by: His wife, Thelma and emergency dispatcher Cathie McGee
Sponsor: National Academies of Emergency Dispatch
Late one night, Thelma Moore heard a thud coming from her bathroom. She ran in to find her husband, Paul, unconscious and barely breathing. She called 911. Shortly after emergency dispatcher Cathie McGee answered, Paul had stopped breathing entirely and was in sudden cardiac arrest.
While waiting for emergency medical services to get there, McGee gave Thelma Moore step-by-step CPR instructions over the phone.
Though terrified, Thelma managed not to panic. She did chest compressions as McGee directed. When emergency medical services arrived, they shocked his heart three times before transporting him to Paradise Valley Hospital. After he was stabilized, he underwent surgery and a stent was implanted.
Eighteen days after his SCA, Paul Moore went home. Two weeks later, Paul and Thelma visited the emergency call center to thank McGee. Unfortunately she was off work that day. McGee later met the Moores when they were being filmed for a prospective television show about emergency dispatch operators. It was the first time McGee had come face-to-face with anyone she'd helped in 29 years on the job. "When they told me they were able to celebrate their 33rd anniversary because of what we did, I got goose bumps," McGee says. "There was nothing I could say. We just hugged and hugged and hugged."
Vicki Meyer
Columbus, Ohio
Saved in her home and again at St. Lawrence Haven food bank and soup kitchen
Date of SCA: October 18, 1984 and July 19, 2004
Ages at time of SCAs: 42, 61
Rescued by her husband and son; the second time by Jeff French
Sponsor: Take Heart America
Twenty years separated the first time Vicki Meyer went into sudden cardiac arrest and the second. The first time was in 1984. She was getting ready for bed when her daughter heard her hit the floor. Her husband and son came running and did CPR until responders arrived.
Two decades later, in the summer of 2004, Meyer was working as a volunteer feeding the homeless at St. Lawrence Haven in Columbus, Ohio when she collapsed again. Jeff French, another volunteer, did CPR until responders arrived. "Both times I had no pain and no warning," Meyer says. She left the hospital six days later with an implantable defibrillator. "I have great respect for EMTs and paramedics."
Christopher Solomons
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Saved at Leeds Bradford Airport in England
Date of SCA: July 24, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 48
Rescued by paramedics James Vine and Lee Davison, pilot Steve Cobb and BBC cameraman John Anderson
Sponsor: B. Braun Medical
As an emergency medical dispatcher for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Christopher Solomons had answered countless calls for help from people who'd witnessed someone collapse in sudden cardiac arrest. Solomons never expected he would become the one who needed help.
While driving to work, Solomons began having chest pain. "I did not think much of it at the time, so I carried on driving to work," he says. Then his arm started to tingle, he began to sweat and the pain intensified. He tried to pull over and call for help, but his hands were spasming and he couldn't get the phone from his pocket. He stumbled into his office, where paramedics James Vine and Lee Davison quickly realized something was wrong. Soon, Chief Pilot Steve Cobb and Jon Anderson, a cameraman from the BBC filming the documentary "Helicopter Heroes," came running.
"By this time I was in a lot of pain," Solomons says. The paramedics hooked him up to a defibrillator, which showed he was having a heart attack. Within moments, Solomons' heart stopped and he went into cardiac arrest.
His colleagues were trained for such an emergency. They began CPR, shocked him twice with the AED and flew him to the catheterization lab at Leeds General Infirmary. "All this happened within two hours of my first signs of pain," Solomons says.
Since his near death, Solomons has stopped smoking and has taken steps to reduce stress. As for the colleagues whose quick action saved his life, "they are now very special friends."
Sandra Giffin
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Saved at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics
Date of SCA: February 18, 2010
Age at time of SCA: 42
Rescued by Erin Sachs
Sponsor: ACT Foundation of Canada
It was one of the most exciting moments in the Vancouver Winter Olympics. American figure skater Evan Lysacek upset the defending Olympic champion, Russia's Evgeny Plushenko, to win the gold. Sandra Giffin and her husband, Cris, were caught up in the excitement and had just boarded a packed bus headed for home when she went into sudden cardiac arrest. "I started to feel ill and all of a sudden I felt like a black curtain came up from my chin to the top of my head," Sandra says. As Cris reached for her, he saw a look of terror on his wife's face and screamed for help.
Cris had learned CPR 30 years ago but hardly remembered it. When no one came forward to help, he started doing compressions as best he could. He shouted again for help. This time, 16-year-old Erin Sachs pushed her way through the crowded bus. "I know CPR!" she said.
Along with her father, Erin took over CPR, which she had learned at school. "I started doing compressions while my dad gave breaths. Learning CPR at school really helped," Erin says.
After a few minutes of CPR, Sandra regained consciousness and was actually able to walk off the bus to a waiting ambulance. A few days later, she had an internal defibrillator implanted in her chest.
Sandra is back to running 10 kilometers three times a week. A few months after her cardiac arrest, she ran a 10K race and placed in the top 50 women in her age group. "If it weren't for Erin, I would have died. CPR is an invaluable skill to have. I am so glad that the ACT Foundation is setting up the CPR program in high schools across Canada. It can mean the difference between life and death. Erin's knowledge and decisive action saved my life."
Tracie Wells
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Saved at work at Rogers Communications in Toronto
Date of SCA: July 9, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 40
Rescued by Suzanne Somers, a nurse; and Erin Harrison, company fitness center manager and other co-workers
Sponsor: Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada
While standing in line to get coffee in a crowded company cafeteria, Traci Wells, an organizational development senior manager, crumpled to the floor in sudden cardiac arrest. Her co-workers immediately rushed to her aid. Security guard Bryan Young took charge of the scene, while Erin Harrison, a manager at the on-site fitness center, began compressions. Moments later, Suzanne Somers, a nurse at the firm's health center, came running with an AED and shocked Wells' heart twice to restore a pulse.
During 10 days in the hospital, Wells underwent numerous tests, but physicians were not able to diagnose what caused her heart to stop. To be safe, she now has an implanted defibrillator.
Her near death experience, Wells said, has prompted a lifestyle overhaul that has her feeling better than ever. "I've lost close to 50 pounds. I decided I needed to reduce stress. I used to work 10, 12, even 14 hour days without thinking twice. In the last year, I have maintained a more regular work schedule. I went from never taking the time to exercise to walking every day, even if it's raining or snowing."
Though Wells still doesn't know what caused the sudden cardiac arrest, she's determined to keep her heart and the rest of her body as healthy as it can be. "If there are things I can control, I'm going to try. I often say I was 'shocked' into consciousness."
Mark Leonelli
Chula Vista, California
Saved at Southwestern College in Chula Vista
Date of SCA: April 8, 2002
Age at time of SCA: 40
Rescued by his college classmates
Sponsor: Cardiac Science
The last thing Mark Leonelli remembers about the day of his sudden cardiac arrest was rushing through the parking lot at Southwestern College in Chula Vista to get to class. Not long after, Leonelli slumped in his chair in sudden cardiac arrest.
The student sitting in front of him realized Leonelli was in trouble and began CPR, while other students and the instructor went to get help. A security guard came running with a recently installed AED and his classmates shocked Leonelli's heart, helping to revive him. "It has made me appreciate life more, to savor the moment, appreciate the little things and not sweat the big things."
Mike Anderson
San Diego, California
Saved during a surfing contest in San Diego
Date of SCA: September 20, 2008
Age at time of SCA: 53
Rescued by fellow surfer, Ryan Grossman, and an unknown physician
Sponsor: UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center
A surfer since he was nine years old, Mike Anderson had been complaining of feeling tired the day of his cardiac arrest—yet he managed to make it to the semi-finals in the open division of a surf competition in San Diego. "I felt like I should be in the 70-year-old division," says Anderson, then 53. He was leaving the beach with Tracey, his wife of 15 years, when he toppled over, slamming his chin into the concrete stairs leading from the beach. When Tracey saw his face turn blue, she thought she had lost him. "I screamed and started crying. I thought for sure my husband was dead."
But bystanders knew what to do. Fellow surfer Ryan Grossman started compressions, while a physician whose name they never learned did rescue breaths. Others called 911, while one surfer took off running for the fire department, which was only about a block away. In the hospital, Anderson had double bypass surgery and was home three weeks later. "When we were first dating, I told him I was growing old with him. We've been through a lot together. And we are definitely growing old together now," Tracey says. Mike Anderson has a simple message for his rescuers. "They are heroes to me."
Olivia Quigley
Winthrop, Massachusetts
Saved at East Boston Central Catholic School in East Boston, Mass.
Date of SCA: February 13, 2009
Age at time of SCA: 6
Rescued by teachers Kathy Carabine and Robert Casaletto
Sponsor: ZOLL Medical Corporation
Olivia Quigley loves Harry Potter and reading. She's a Girl Scout and has an orange belt in Tae Kwon Do. She's also a survivor of sudden cardiac arrest.
Last year, Olivia was bouncing balls with her first grade class at East Boston Central Catholic School when she collapsed. The gym teacher ran to the school office to get help. Moments later, sixth grade teacher Robert Casaletto and kindergarten teacher Kathy Carabine, both of whom were trained in CPR, were at Olivia's side. Casaletto did chest compressions while Carabine did rescue breaths. They did CPR for seven minutes until responders from Boston EMS arrived and shocked her heart, restoring a heart beat.
Later that day while getting a CT scan, Olivia again went into cardiac arrest. Despite many tests, doctors never determined what went wrong with her heart. Today, Olivia has an implanted defibrillator. She recently attended a camp with other children with heart problems.
When her parents see their bubbly second grader with the strawberry blond hair laughing and running, they can hardly believe they almost lost her. Her rescuers, Joe Quigley says, "saved Olivia. But they not only saved one little girl, they saved our whole family."
The school had no AEDs at the time of Olivia's cardiac arrest. Today the school has three. The Quigley's have been working with the American Heart Association on passing Senate bill 2295 in the Massachusetts Legislature. It would require every school to have AEDs and staff trained in CPR and in using the devices. "Olivia doesn't understand everything that happened to her that day. But she understands if this isn't passed, there will be other children that aren't as lucky as her," Joe says.
