Say goodbye to a tough year, healthwise. After being in the best physical shape in years by mid-May, I declined to about the worst. First the bike crash on May 17, snapping the frame and twisting my back. Four months later, with a new bike I started riding again. Four weeks later I declared to my wife that I was quickly coming back. A week later, SCA and two weeks in Harborview. What a shock. I still can't believe that I, and we, went through it, and survived.

Having family, especially my wife, Marty's support, makes all the difference. And now, she's the one who feels more tenuous than I, at least emotionally. Which is her m.o., to be more conservative, so I can't be too shocked. I'd like to get riding again, and look forward to another year of long distance events. I'll take my time to build up, looking at three to four months of increasing mileage, before tackling anything too long, i.e. a 200k.

Last Wednesday night in Pittsburgh, we witnessed a public "thank you" by the SCAF for saving a pretty special guy, Maxwell King.....a good friend of mine.  Many SCA survivors can say..."been there, done that" but seldom are what the original survivors called "champions" hailed publically.  As Martha Stewart would say "This is a good thing!" 

My name is Matthew O’Donnell I am a Firefighter and Paramedic in the city of Warwick, RI.  I am also an Account Executive for Emergency Medical Group (EMG) a company that specializes in Public Access Defibrillation programs.

One of my best friends called a few weeks ago and asked, “So how is Tim Russert’s case affecting you and the foundation’s efforts to raise awareness about saving lives?”

I told her that despite the very tragic news of his sudden death, the good news is that people are talking about heart attacks and other causes of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). We spoke about how much media coverage there has been on the topic. 

Then she said something that caught me completely off-guard. “So, do you want to know how it is affecting me?” "Sure," I said, wondering where this was going.

I was at work one night when a coworker came to my cubicle.  He then ran into the computer room, and told them I "looked funny."  I imagine I did: I had no heart beat, and wasn't breathing. I was very lucky that my fellow workers were able to start CPR and call 911 right away. I was brought back to life four times that night.  I spent 14 days in the hospital, another 7 in a nursing home.  It wasn't a nursing home for people expected to recover, as nearly as I can tell, but the home of many medicaid patients.  I was told I was unusual because I was so young (52), there for my heart, and didn't have family issues or homelessness to cope with.  The physical therapy was laughable.