Meet Survivor Joe Schweitzer

Joe Schweitzer was working out at a local gym on the evening of June 24th, 2015.  He and his wife Teresa had just finished a 40 minute workout when he looked over at her and asked to leave because he wasn’t feeling well.  Within seconds of getting into their vehicle, Joe exclaimed that his head hurt and that he wanted to go straight to the hospital.  Then, Joe went into sudden cardiac arrest.  

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Teresa called 911 and pulled over as soon as she could.  She wrestled Joe out of the van and thankfully a gentleman who saw her  struggling stopped to see if she needed help.  He immediately started giving Joe CPR. 

Within 4-5 minutes of calling 911, the ambulance arrived and began working to stabilize Joe.  He was taken to the hospital where he arrested again upon arrival.  Again, Joe was stabilized and his doctors tried to open his left circumflex artery.  Not knowing the extent of the damage on his body from the cardiac arrest, Joe was placed into a therapeutic hypothermic state to allow his body to recover as much as possible.  Joe woke up 4 ½ days later. 

Amazingly, Joe recovered with no neurological damage and with a normal ejection fraction.  Today, Joe feels great and continues to work out with regular frequency and has ran two 5K races since his incident.  Joe feels very lucky to have survived this experience and is spending more time with family taking vacations and enjoying time outdoors.  

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