Day 0 -Not My Day to Die
August 23rd, 2024. I died.
The day started out with 18 holes of golf with lifelong friends. Salt of the earth guys I worked with 30 years ago at General Mills. Golf was followed by a BBQ that evening at one of the guy's houses and our annual Fantasy Football draft was planned for later that night.
I never made it to the draft that night. Unannounced, as friends gathered and the BBQ began, I had a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). I was dead for more than 8 minutes before my heart was restarted.
The hosts of the party immediately began CPR on me. A husband and wife tag team (Paul & Kim), that I would later learn, sang the Bee-Gees "Stayin' Alive" while administering CPR. Curious? It is the perfect song beat for chest compressions and hitting the ideal 100 - 120 beats per mintue while also providing some much needed cheerleading and optimism in the moment...
"Whether you're a brother or whether you're a motherYou're stayin' alive, stayin' aliveFeel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'And we're stayin' alive, stayin' aliveAh, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' aliveAh, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive"
Another friend urgently dialed 911 and stayed on the phone until the first responders arrived while also relaying instructions from the 911 dispatcher. Another friend ran 100 yards down the road to make sure the first responders turned on the correct street. Yet another waited at the front of the house to take the first responders on the fastest route to me in the backyard where I had the SCA. Other friends prayed for me.
Seconds to response matter and the odds of living and being cognitively intact decay the longer your heart is stopped. The odds of someone walking out of the hospital after a SCA are about 8%. The odds of being physically and mentally OK less than 1%.
The first responders (paramedics and police in this case) arrived and immediately dove into action. The paramedics utilized an "IO" (Instraosseous Access) to drill two holes in my shin. Yes, think Home Depot drill into concrete. In critical situations like this when your heart is stopped and the blood not moving this is essential to establish a route to administer medications when traditional IV access is not possible and time is of the essence. Concurrently, the police placed the Automated External Defibillator (AED) pads on me to (hopefully) restart my heart. BOOOM and the shock from the AED was delivered and my heart began to beat again.
This is not the beginning or the end of the story but simply the middle of the story. Today I am alive due to a remarkable series of prior life experiences that led up to my SCA plus a lot of love, help from lifelong friends and my guardian angel(s) they all played a critical role in why I am alive and well today. I will detail much of this in upcoming posts on this site
At the end of Day 0, friends Paul who had given me CPR and Bart who talked to 911 accompanied me to the Emergency Room and subsequently the Intensive Care Unit. This is me with Bart and Paul on Day 1 after my intubation tube was removed!
They later told me three reasons they went to the hospital with me:
1) They loved me
2) I was not gonna die alone and
3) It was Not My Day to Die.
'You Are the World's Best' Friends!
1 comment
This is inspiring. It’s thought-provoking and most importantly it’s a great reminder to not take your health for granted. Glad you are well.