Our story
Well I had my incident on July 7th of 2016, I am an active runner and swimmer, eat well and do all I can to take care of myself- I was only 47 years old when this happened and had a lot of stress before this event, my wife had just finished a yearlong fight with breast cancer, and I made the mistake of trying to handle all of the stress on my own, taking care of our two young kids and being the support I needed to be for her. My event as I call it happend one week after her final surgery and us being told she would be okay.
I did not have any symptoms other than heart burn, I thought it was from all the spicy food I had been eating that week, I did have a hard time working out that week, just could not seem to do it, something just did not feel right. On the night of the incident, I woke up with a real burning in my chest. I woke my wife who had just had surgery so was a little out it, I told her I need to go to the hospital, she said I should just take a nap and deal with it in the morning. Something told me I had to go. I got up and chewed on an aspirin (not sure why). I drove myself to the hospital which is about a mile from my home. (one of the dumbest but best things I have ever done in my life) I was lucky to find a parking place right in front of the ER. I walked up to the counter, said I think I am having a bad case of heart burn or a heart… Then collapsed on the floor, pulseless and breathless. 4 minutes of CPR and two different rounds of being shocked they got me back, about a minute later I went pulseless again and another 2 minutes of CPR and another round of being shocked. They were able to get me back a 2nd time. I was sent to the cath lab where they found the cause, a 100% blockage of the LAD. They placed two stents. They told my wife they were unsure how I would be because of the time I was pulseless.
I woke up a day later, in the ICU on a vent and on a heart pump. I was taken off the vent about a hour after I woke up. I could remember nothing but walking into the ER, I spent a week in the ICU and a couple of days on the floor. I had so many people tell me just how lucky I was.
A few months ago I had my echo and was told that my heart had recovered with no damage. I was told by the doctors that it was a true miracle I was alive and doing so well. Today I doing amazing, running and swimming again like never before.
