Dawn Blake, Andover, MN – 33 at the time of event (2006)
I had my sudden cardiac arrest on May 19th, 2006 at the age of 33. I was sleeping on the couch because I thought I was having muscle spasms in my back. My husband Mike, who is an EMT, woke up to an unidentified sound and found me unresponsive. He started CPR and called 9-1-1.
The Anoka County Sheriff’s department arrived within two to four minutes with an AED (automated external defibrillator) and oxygen. They tell me I was shocked once with the AED. Then the Allina paramedics arrived and I was shocked four more times before a heart rhythm was established.
I was transported to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, where I was shocked five more times in the ER. I went to the Cath Lab, where they removed the blockage to my heart and put my body into hypothermia.
My prognosis was not good and I was transferred to the University of Minnesota for possible placement of an LVAD. I improved overnight and I was placed on the heart transplant list.
I went home seven days later and then had a heart attack. My stent re-clogged and needed to be opened again at the U of M. I spent the next two weeks in the hospital due to blood clots, but then went home 21 days later.
I have since regained my heart function and I am no longer on the transplant list. I do not have an ICD. My heart function is now in the “normal” range. I am happy to be alive!
-SCA Survivor Registry submission