Colby Brooks, Portland, OR – 30 at time of event (2008)
Colby Brooks is an athlete, just like his brothers. “I’m super-active,” he says with pride, describing how he goes hiking and biking alone into the mountains with 80 pounds of camping gear on his back. While he wouldn’t class his physical exertions as extreme sports, you could certainly say they are at that end of the spectrum. His specific interest is bike racing—the kind that requires you to pump hard with your legs. In fact he was doing just that one Monday last month in the Mountain Bike Short Track Series at PIR (Portland International Raceway). Today, he can’t really remember that fateful evening. He can only relay the story he’s been told.
He was in the men's single speed race at the local “MTB short track”, looking very much the pro—spandex shorts and light-weight helmet, with number 175 attached to the familiar mountain bike between his legs. On the third lap he made a move to the outside, just near the start/finish line, and… He stopped the bike, got off and wandered a few feet away. Then he fell down, right there on the edge of the track. He had not won. He had not even finished. He had died. Colby had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest—of unknown cause. It would have killed him, in just minutes. But he was lucky. Half a dozen people crowded around him, some from the spectator stands, plus the track first-aid staff, and his girlfriend, Rebekah. The first-aid responders knew CPR and started the rescue breaths and chest compressions immediately. 9-1-1 was called and almost a quarter hour later the EMTs had shocked Colby’s heart back into rhythm. The hospital was a 20 minute ride away, but Colby was safe inside the ambulance and arrived without “crashing” again.
“I don’t really remember being in the hospital, but just last night I had a recollection of being in the ambulance...” Colby said when I ask him if he remembers waking up, “…which is kind of scary, I have this memory of hearing my girlfriend talking to me, and all the happenings in the ambulance.” He paused and then said, “It just popped into my head last night!”
I asked Colby what caused his collapse, “Ventricular fibrillation,” was his immediate reply. “They said my heart was just fine. I don’t know the details, but they looked for some sort of electrical anomaly with the intention that if they found it, they could zap it or burn it out.” He paused again and said, “but they didn’t find anything.” He has had some episodes of a “racing heart” in the past, but it had never bothered him much before. In fact, one of his brothers also experiences the feeling, and he hasn’t had anything happen.
After a week and a half in the hospital, Colby was discharged with a shiny new ICD implanted in his chest. He admits he doesn’t really know much about it. “There’s a chance it’ll never shock me. There’s a chance it will.” Colby said there was a guy at his work who had had a heart attack and received an ICD some years ago, and he thinks it would be a good idea to share their stories, “I need to call him and have a talk."
Colby thinks he’ll take heed of the event, and tone down the exertion a bit. He returned to the Bike Gallery in Hollywood, where he works, but can only manage a few days a week so far; he gets a little tired. Not that anyone is surprised—he left the ICU only a couple of weeks ago!
-Jeremy Whitehead