Letter From A Mom, For Whom CPR Made A Difference

I came across the following in my inbox last month. It is from a personal acquaintance of mine from Denver, who has firsthand experience of having had CPR used effectively and successfully.

“I am sending this out to virtually my entire mailbox so that I don’t forget anyone and to make things simpler here. If you receive this and do not feel it is for you, I understand and you may delete.

I send this not as a message of fear or doom, but of faith. God has been strongly at work in our lives this past week and many of you have been praying for us. I want you to know that prayer DOES WORK! We have been given many miracles.

Last Friday, Nick (17 and healthy) collapsed when his heart stopped. His breathing stopped as well. He was in a friends’ front yard and thankfully fell onto the grass. His friends that were with him called out to the Mom who was home sick that day. God provided us a Mom who is a nurse and who immediately began CPR while others called 911.

The paramedics responded and began to prepare for transport. They had to shock him twice to restart his heart. He suffered seizures during this time as well.

Nick did not wake up. They admitted and began a hypothermia protocol to cool his body to 91 degrees, a paralytic to keep him from seizing and shivering, and a heavy sedative so he would be (hopefully) unaware of what was happening. This continued for 24 hours. We had no idea if he would come out of it or not, or what state he would be in if he did.

He recovered with remarkable quickness, and other than some short-term memory loss does not seem to have any ill effects from the ordeal. Tests have failed to reveal anything wrong with his heart. Thanks to modern science they have been able to implant an ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) into his chest and heart. This device will be with him for life but will know if his heart is not pacing correctly and if it stops. A shock will be sent to the heart automatically. Once every 30 days (later less often) they will read the device to see if any activity has taken place.

We hope to be going home today of tomorrow. It is by the grace of God that the son and brother we almost lost just a few days ago is currently sitting in bed eating Dominos pizza.

Our thanks to everyone who prayed and for those who will continue to.

Rebecca

I submit the above for your consideration. Many of you have taken CPR classes from me because you have to (due to job or school requirements). Some have taken it because you just wanted to be in possession of knowledge in order to make a difference should the need arise.

Please remember, practice makes perfect. If you have taken a class, double check your card’s expiration date. If you’ve been considering taking a class in the near future, there is no better time than the present.