If not for my husband's quick actions, I would not be here today

On Sunday evening March 25, 2018, around 11 pm, my husband and I were in bed watching television. I got up to brush my teeth and when I got back into bed my husband noticed that I was struggling to breathe and I began to lose consciousness. He quickly grabbed his cell phone and called 911, and as he was calling, he grabbed our dog (who was in the bed with us), put her in my 12-year-old daughter's room, and told her to keep the door shut.

He ran down the stairs and unlocked the front door, ran back to me, got me off the bed and onto the floor, and started chest compressions as the 911 dispatcher instructed him. He had never been trained in CPR, nor had he ever given CPR before. He said that every time he let up on the compressions, I turned blue and he knew he had to keep trying. The dispatcher stayed with him on the phone the entire time.

The local police and ambulance were able to walk right into our house and up the stairs into our bedroom to work on me--due to his quick thinking. They took over chest compressions and used the AED to shock me. I was taken to the local ER and then intubated and transferred to a hospital in Philadelphia.

I awoke in the ICU four days later and my first memory is my husband standing over me saying I had had a sudden cardiac arrest and he saved me with CPR. I was 44 at the time, very active, a runner, and very healthy. I had every test imaginable at the hospital and there is no explanation for my SCA.

My doctor decided, as a precaution, to implant a defibrillator on April 2nd. If not for my husband's quick reaction/ability to follow instructions from the 911 operator, I would not be alive today.

The two responding police officers in my community were acknowledged with a Life Saving Award from the community, however my husband was never given any formal recognition for what he did. I have never been able to express how thankful I am and I thought this would be a great way to do it.

Submitted by Nicole Longo