I’ve been watching this closely, as I’ve lived through much of this. (Not a football player; just watch on TV.)
I had a full cardiac arrest at home with CPR and three jumpstarts between home and hospital ten years ago. I was put in an induced hypothermic coma for the better part of a week. It’s to help reduce stress on the brain and is SOP these days with cardiac arrest patients. As for the lungs…I was also on a ventilator. By the time the EMTs got to my house, I was in the “agonal breathing” stage, even though S2 had been doing CPR the entire time. Apparently I had pink frothy sputum, which is what happens when your lungs are dying; the capillaries start bleeding due to lack of oxygen. Also had a pneumothorax from chest compressions. S didn’t break my ribs, though.
I’m also told I aspirated some of that sputum, which caused pneumonia. The docs were more concerned about my lungs than my heart once I survived the first night and they got stents in place.
It’s a tremendously good sign that Damar is responding and aware of his surroundings. It will still be a long haul, but he is a very lucky man. Fewer than 10% of people who have a cardiac arrest in a non-hospital setting survive. Kudos to the coach who immediately started CPR. A lot of what the docs have been saying tracks with my own experience.
H says the docs tried pulling me out of the coma at three days, and I failed every cognitive assessment. He and the guys were really terrified. I came out of the coma at five days, woke up, looked at the white board in the room, and said, “I guess we’re not going camping this weekend.” (It was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, and we ALWAYS go camping.) That was the moment they knew I was back. Even though I have zero memory of the cardiac arrest, the two weeks prior, or what happened while in the coma, I knew I’d had a heart attack when I awoke. At some level, I was still processing. I stayed in the ICU another week, then a couple days in a regular room, and then went to a rehab for two weeks.
The docs and the Bills will make sure Damar gets everything he needs to achieve a successful recovery.
Had no idea the survival rates were so poor til after I was out of the hospital. When I give a medical history, I always get the “WHOA” reaction (and some docs sputtered sweary words!). I had a neuropsych eval two months afterwards; my cardiologist wanted one before she’d let me drive. The neuropsych was stunned at my results and he’s the one who completely explained what the odds were, and how few people who survive this are cognitively intact.
Yours is an amazing story. Did you have a heart attack that caused the arrest (or vice versa?). I have a friend who had a SCA at work and a colleague did CPR and saved her. She now has an implanted defibrillator that has gone off twice. They do not know why this is happening to her.
IMHO, CPR should be taught in HS and AEDs ought to be WAY more common and WAY more noticable. I always look for them out of habit, due to family members with arrhythmias, and very often they are tucked out of sight, near a back office or closet when they should be front and center in public buildings with clearly marked signage.
My husband had SCA not due to heart attack four years ago. He now has an implanted defibrillator. It has not gone off, I heard it is scary when it does. We were told there is a 8% survival rate. I also look for AEDs “in the wild” and see them a lot (tennis club, hotel, high school gym, etc…). I was glad to hear that the AED talks you through what to do.
At one point I worked in a high school athletics office, and we all were required to have CPR training (mine has since lapsed). The AED machine is amazing, it tells you exactly what to do so you don’t even need to keep track of timing. I also look for AEDs in places, seems like most public place have them now.
It’s lovely that the NFL is trying to gather together and develop consistent ways of showing support for Damar Hamlin. But is it really necessary to specify that that participants must wear Nike shirts or New Era hats?
Yes, but they could have just as easily said the provided shirts/hats and not called out the name brands. But yes, I realize there’s money for sponsorships, so of course they’re bringing it in. It just feels a touch…unpalatable when included in a statement about how the NFL is trying to support a player who nearly died from a blow in the sponsored sport.
Wow it’s amazing you did. But I don’t think Damar’s stats would be equivalent because his was far from a typical non-hospital setting. Highly trained Medical personnel and equipment on hand including AED and device to assist with airway.
I’m pretty sure Florida does too. My daughter had to take health, and she did it as her online course (also a requirement). I know she went to a one day course for CPR.
I always had it as part of lifeguard training (and recertification), as part of scouting. I also took it as a class for parents when my daughter was born prematurely (and my mother took it too). I think what is hard is to keep the certification up. We certainly didn’t have AED training (27 years ago)
