Husband of one of my students survived a SCA

Husband of one of my students survived a SCA

From: Dawn Alford [DAlford@fmdc.org]
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 2:18 PM
To: Lepervanche, Jose
Subject:

Hi Dr. Jose,

I am enrolled in one of your classes again next semester and felt compelled to share something with you because I was so moved by the story about your sudden cardiac arrest on your webpage.

I was supposed to take Strategic Management and Decision Making with you this semester, but when the Fall 2010 classes started, I was actually by my husband’s side at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in ICU as he also recovered from a SCA.

My story is VERY similar to your own and I absolutely know we were given a miracle and I think about how blessed we are each and every day!   My husband’s name is Skeet.  He’s 50.  I was actually taking him to the hospital because he was having blood pressure issues when he told me that he felt like he was “going to pass out” – which he did shortly thereafter.  I called 911 and told them approximately where on the highway I was traveling, then stopped the car, pulled him from it and began CPR until help arrived.

Rescue came and took him to the hospital where they continued resuscitation efforts.  Like you, it was nearly 45 minutes and he was not responding.  The ER physician was telling me that he believed that all resuscitation efforts were futile and that they’d done the very best they could.  Within moments of Dr. Thomas having said that – my husband sat up in the gurney!!   He was life flighted to St. Vincent’s medical center where a heart cath actually showed no damage and/or blockage.  It is believed that the TPA that was given to him at our local hospital along with the ACLS ‘flushed’ the clot through.

My daughters and I waited for three days while he was in ICU, after having been told by MANY medical professionals that we should anticipate some amount of  ‘neurological deficit’ after having been without natural oxygen for so long.  Yet, God continued blessing us with his tender grace – my husband woke up and was absolutely fine.  The only memory loss at all that he suffers is the actual events of the day of his heart attack.  Other than that – he is completely normal!!  He does now have an automatic implanted cardiac defibrillator in case he ever goes into v-fib again.

I work with physicians that have been practicing for years and they assure me that they’ve never seen anything like this.      Like your family – we were blessed with a miracle!

Thanks for ‘listening’ to my story.  I’m looking forward to taking another of your classes in the Spring 2011 semester.

Dawn

Dawn Alford
Clinical Administrative Assistant