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Faith in humanity restored....a little

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turbojimmy

Supporting Member
Joined
May 26, 2001
Messages
5,560
Last Tuesday, 7/1, my brother and I made the trip to MA. to visit my grandmother. She had suffered a heart attack and we were told that she had very little time. We arrived at the hospital to find her resting, so rather than wake her up we went to my grandparents' house to meet up with my mom who had previously traveled out there.

After spending about 15 minutes there, the phone rang. My mom answered. She looked confused, then upset, and ran from the house crying. Out in the front yard, she was totally incoherent so I took the phone from her and asked who was speaking. It was a woman from my father's office who told me my dad 'fell'. When pressed for more information, she turned the phone to another person. I didn't recognize either of their names but I would learn later that they are friends of my dad's - 'lunch buddies', they said.

Dad had suffered cardiac arrest and was dead for what they estimated to be 2 minutes before being revived. He fell to the floor in his cubicle and hit his face on the corner of the desk. It was the last thing we'd ever expect since dad was an exercise fanatic and is in better physical shape than either of his sons. (myself and DarkRed87T). I made the 3-hour trip home with my mom with this information. It was a quiet ride.

We went straight to the hospital where they had already started cooling dad into a hypothremic coma to protect any brain function he might have remaining. At that point no one knew how long he did not have blood to his brain, but his co-workers assured me that their 'First Responders' got to him within seconds, not minutes, and had a pulse before paramedics arrived.

The 'First Responders' are people at the office who volunteer their time and are trained in providing emergency medical care. I knew they existed, we have them in our building, but never gave them any thought because let's face it - how often do we really need them? I've worked in an office environment for 17 years and never saw the need for one.

The two people that worked on my dad were ordinary office workers at first glance. They heard my dad fall and immediately began CPR. Someone fetched the defibrillator and they used it to restart his heart. Not only did they save his life, but they did it so quickly that dad appears to have 100% of his neurological functions. He woke up this morning after being unconscious for 5 days. When we got to the hospital he greeted us like he had just woke up from a night's sleep.

Obviously the teams of physicians and nurses had a lot to do with his recovery thus far, but the care he received in the seconds following the event is the reason he is sitting there talking to us today.

Dad has a long road to full recovery, but we are eternally grateful to these 'first responders'. I have no idea what an appropriate 'thank you' is for these people. Anything you could give them would seem to be trivial.

Just thought I'd share...it's good therapy for me to share the story. It's been a rough week.

Jim

EDIT: Grandma is still doing okay, too.
 
Jim I am glad your Dad is going to be Ok, I wish him all the best as well as your grandmother too.

Best of luck.
 
My brother is a first responder where he works. It is unbelievable how many
emergency type of operations that perform per year in a company of about 200 people. He is constantly being thanked by someone!!! Its nice to know that these people exist. Hope all goes well for you. God bless!!! Mike:cool:
 
Praise God

That's great that there was someone there knowledgeable enough to start Basic Life Support till they could defibrilate him out of ventricular fibrillation (VF)and start ACLS Advanced Cardiac Life Support.(VF).Sounds like they were there quickly with the defib. AMEN... EARLY response is the Key to Survival. That is why your dad has come around. So many times I've seen where the light is on but nobody is home and that is because too much time went by before basic compressions were started, they were down for a while before paramedics showed up to start Life Support. Those people who did early compressions quickly on your daddy kept the blood circulating to his noodle and major organs. The key is compressions keeping the blood circulating even if not that oxgenated. The emphasis used to be on rescue breathing but what good is oxygenated blood if the blood is not moving you maybe doing great mouth to mouth but if the blood isn't circulating/ being moved by compressions to the major organs like the brain it does no good. Thank God they had 1st responders in that office. The best thing we can do if someone goes down in front of us and they have "no pulse" is compressions yell out for someone to call 911. Do them a depth of 1 1/2 -2 inches deep don't worry about cracking ribs. The ratio compressions to rescue breathing used to be like 5:1 now it's 15:1 do at least 60 compression a minute. "We all can be 1st responders it will make a difference." Again praise God your daddy is coming around.
 
You can do your part, too

Have an AED placed at your work site/office. The CPR/AED training takes a couple of hours to certify you. Basic First Aid courses can be easily taken in one evening at your local Red Cross chapter.
It may be you that is called on to help...
 
Thats great news about your Dad. The best way to thank these people is a heartfelt thank you and a hand shake. Trust me it means the world.
 
Glad to hear it worked out well. Make sure you give everyone a heart felt hug. It does suck losing someone who you never thought you would, and then feeling you should have told them a few things you have in your heart.
God bless your family!
 
Thanks all for the well-wishes and prayers. My dad isn't totally out of the woods yet, but he has a couple of people to thank for having the opportunity to recover at all. It's just amazing to me.

Jim
 
Have an AED placed at your work site/office. The CPR/AED training takes a couple of hours to certify you. Basic First Aid courses can be easily taken in one evening at your local Red Cross chapter.
It may be you that is called on to help...

Amen. My brother was talking about getting into shape so the same doesn't happen to us. It seems my dad's condition (Arythmia?) runs in the family. Apparently when it happens it's "lights out".

However, I think I'm going to look into taking a rescue course first. I took one a while back for the phone company but I don't remember much.

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.
Mike
 
thank goodness for them.. Glad he is ok now.. I too am trained in cpr and defib recessatation at work.. Hope I never have to use it..
 
Great news, glad to hear that both are recovering! How old is dad?
 
Sometimes simply saying 'thank you' to them is enough. It's not necessarily the words that are important, but the meaning behind the words.

I'm glad your father is okay.
 
Glad to hear your dad's doing well, like everybody else has already said, don't take it for granted, enjoy your time with him!!! My dad had a heart attack two years ago (and he was in great shape and didn't smoke) and it really opened my eyes. Glad to hear everything's good!
 
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