A man suffered a cardiac arrest and his pulse stopped for 40 minutes but miraculously still survived, thanks to the intervention of emergency workers.
North Carolina man John Ogburn, 36, praised the police and medics who brought him back from the dead by not giving up on him themselves.
Ogburn collapsed while working on his laptop near his Charlotte home on June 26. After the crucial 911 was called, two police officers who happened to be in the area at that time were the first to arrive at the scene, a mere minute after the 911 call.
Lawrence Guiler and Nikolina Bajic adminsitered CPR for over 40 minutes on Ogburn, and did not give up even though there were no longer signs of life. Then more reinforcement came when firefighters arrived at the scene within the first hour, along with a nurse, and tried to restart his pulse using a defibrillator.
The team administered CPR 200 times, but it was only when the medics came after about 40 minutes that Ogburn’s pulse came back again.
Ogburn said that he has little to complain about his life and health since his truly near death experience. He said: “My energy level hasn’t been what it was before, but that might be because my routine changed a bit. The combination of (the chest compressions and an internal defibrillator) is a little sore, but if that’s all I got to complain about, then I’m doing very well.”
He also gave salute to the team for not giving up on him - and his life. He said:
“In certain time frames they’re supposed to call it, and they didn’t, they continued to try to save me. And I am just so grateful for that and for them.”
Dr Michael Kurz, associate professor at the University of Alabama School of Medicine said that Ogburn’s case highlights the value of CPR in extending the window of survival of cardiac arrest victims. He said immediate CPR can double -or even exceed that- chances of survival from cardiac arrest. He also issued the reality check that most U.S. employees are not to handle cardiac emergencies, and that needs to change.
Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the U.S. with more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurring per year in the country.
Source:
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/north-carolina-man-survives-40-minutes-no-pulse-092822481.html
