Posted on 09/02/2009

Chuck Trimble was rooting for his beloved Cincinnati Reds when his heart unexpectedly stopped beating.

But Trimble was lucky. He suffered cardiac arrest Aug. 23 in front of 21,209 fans at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, including a nurse, an emergency medical technician and a doctor well-trained in CPR.

"I don't remember anything that happened, but I've been told that three strangers saved my life," said Trimble, 60, who lives in Corry.

Once a year, Trimble and his wife, Sharon, drive from Corry to Pittsburgh when the Reds visit to play the Pirates. This year, they took their 4-year-old grandson, Brant Xander.

While his wife and grandson shopped for souvenirs in the third inning, Trimble collapsed in his seat.

It's called sudden cardiac death. More than 80 percent of the people who suffer from it either die or develop serious brain damage, said Jerome Granato, M.D., Trimble's cardiologist at Allegheny General Hospital.

"When the heart stops beating, the other organs aren't getting the oxygen they need," Granato said. "If circulation isn't restored, the organs start dying within minutes."

Chris Post, M.D., was watching the Pirates game with his son in a luxury box about 40 feet from where Trimble collapsed.

"A friend came up and said there's a guy down and they're asking for a doctor," Post said. "I ran over there, and Mr. Trimble was lying on the concrete. He was unresponsive and people were trying CPR."

Trimble couldn't have wished for a better Good Samaritan.

Post's specialty at Allegheny General is pediatric ear, nose and throat surgery, but he is a former Green Beret medic and current Army reservist who has run field hospitals in Afghanistan.

"I've done a bunch of CPR on patients over the years," Post said.

Post immediately began compressing Trimble's chest. A nurse and an emergency medical technician who were sitting nearby hooked up Trimble to one of the automated external defibrillators PNC Park keeps on hand for such emergencies.

It was at that time when Trimble's wife and grandson returned to their seats.

"It was the most horrific thing I have ever been through," Sharon Trimble said. "I got down on my knees, touched Chuck's shoulder and said, 'You've got to wake up, Chuck. You've got to wake up.'

Post guessed that he performed CPR for about seven to 10 minutes before the AED was ready to send an electrical shock to Trimble's heart.

The first shock didn't send his heart back into normal rhythm, but subsequent ones did. "The first good news was when the left side of his face moved," Post said. "Then he grimaced. That encouraged us to keep going."

Paramedics arrived and transported Trimble to nearby Allegheny General.

Once there, emergency physicians cooled Trimble's body to 92 degrees by inserting a catheter into a vein in his upper thigh and filling it with ice water.

"It's called hypothermia, and the idea is to lower the body temp and reduce the oxygen requirements of the brain, the kidneys, the heart, and let them heal," Granato said.

Doctors kept Trimble in a drug-induced coma for four days, then gradually woke him.

On Friday, he was alert enough to greet his wife and son, Stephen. That's when his family learned that the trauma has caused short-term memory loss.

"He didn't remember anything about the game or the trip to Pittsburgh," Sharon Trimble said. "Then he asked if his mother and father were coming to see him. His dad is in a nursing home, and his mother died seven years ago. I told him and he started crying."

Trimble's memories should return, Granato said.

"The heroes are Dr. Post and the people who treated Mr. Trimble in the field," Granato said. "He received good, effective CPR, and the AED shocked his heart back into rhythm."

Doctors still don't know why Trimble's heart stopped beating. His arteries weren't clogged, and he had no previous heart problems.

They will take a biopsy of heart tissue later today to see if he has amyloidosis, a group of diseases that cause abnormal proteins to collect on the heart and other organs. Former Erie Mayor Lou Tullio, former Pittsburgh Mayor Richard Caliguiri and former Gov. Bob Casey died of amyloidosis.

"It's a serious illness, but there are different types of amyloidosis, and not all of them are equally bad," Granato said.

Doctors will also place a defibrillator under Trimble's skin near his collarbone. It will shock his heart if it stops beating again. They said he could go home as soon as Friday.

"I'm looking forward to enjoying my family," Trimble said. "I'm only 60. I feel that I have many more years to go. I want to see my grandchildren grow up and my great-grandchildren born."

-David Bruce, Erie Times-News

 

 

 

 

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