Two months after suffering a cardiac arrest, I was alive to welcome my first grandchild to the world. Three years ago while working at my job in construction at a local school, I suffered sudden cardiac arrest and slumped to the floor.
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A bystander quickly started CPR. While CPR was critical to my survival, CPR alone wouldn’t have done any good without the AED. Meanwhile, another bystander remembered seeing an AED in the entryway of the school that very morning. While he went to get the AED, Helen continued compressions, until he returned. Once the AED arrived and was administered, the AED started my heart working again.
I was taken to the hosopital where I was stabilized and ultimately had two stents installed.
Thanks to a working AED, I lived to meet my granddaughter. I needed the school AED to work that day, and it did. I support all efforts to make sure all AEDs remain in working order in our schools and other public places.
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