So it all started on a
sunny day, beautiful day in July — it was a Sunday.
And we're on a boat, pontoon boat
with my family, my nieces, nephews, sister,
and just enjoying the day, and a storm came,
so we kind of packed it all up
and started heading back toward the shore.
And just before we got back to the shore,
I kind of felt this lightning bolt, it felt like, going through my chest.
It was twice. It was boom, boom.
It was kind of like two big shocks to my chest.
In all honesty, knowing that the storm
was kind of right behind us,
I literally felt like I had just been struck by lightning.
We're waiting on the paramedics, and I stood up,
walked off the boat and,
even though everybody was telling me to
"Sit, sit, sit."
But I don't want the paramedics to fight,
getting me off that boat and the pier and everything else, so
paramedics arrived, took me to the local hospital.
I was very conscious, very aware of everything going on.
Just had pain.
Got to that first hospital.
They said,
"This is something we can't do.
We can't handle this.
We need to find somebody who can."
I was on a call in the hospital,
and I got a call from an outside hospital
saying that they had a patient
that had an aortic dissection, and it was
his blood pressure was very low.
what we call it hypotensive and they asked
if we were able to accept him to fix his aneurysm.
The circumstances that Chris was in
were dire circumstances.
About 40 to 50 percent of people die
before they even reach a hospital,
and those who do arrive to a hospital
are still at significant risk for mortality.
Everybody was waiting.
I mean, it was like as soon as the doors open,
the surgeons and their entire team were standing at the door
waiting for us, waiting for me.
There was myself, Dr. Cross,
an assembled team of about 12 people,
two scrub nurses,
two circling nurses,
a couple of perfusionists,
a couple of anesthesiologists,
everyone working in sync with each other.
And the aorta is the main vessel
that all the blood flow goes through
when it leaves the heart to go to all of the —
to the rest of the body.
And he actually had a tear
in the inside lining of that vessel.
The tear is partly contained because
part of the aortic wall is still holding things together.
So he was awake and talking to us,
but we took him immediately to the operating room.
As we were scrubbing in and then getting
into the operating room
he suddenly arrested and we lost a pulse and blood pressure.
What had happened was his
tear had finally broken free
and he had an actual free rupture
of his aorta into his chest.
And so even though we're doing open cardiac massage,
of course blood is also at the same time
leaking out from the aorta,
so it's kind of a dicey situation.
He was for all intents and purposes
trying to die on us right then and there and
without getting him connected to the heart-lung machine,
he would be dead.
Once we had him on the bypass machine,
we were able to circulate the blood flow
and then Dr. Jweied and I worked together
to stop the bleeding on the ruptured aorta.
Next we had to cool the patient down.
We had to cool Chris down to where
we actually stopped the heart
and we stopped any oxygen demand in the body as well.
Eventually we even stopped all the blood flow in the heart
and we sew in a new tube graft
that is going to be a new vessel
and in Chris's case
we also had to sew in a new valve as well.
A new aortic valve.
What we have to commend is in
anesthesia for keeping up with
giving fluid and blood to the patient,
the nurses moving in harmony with each other
and making things happen
so that we can proceed along with this operation.
I was in a coma for two or three days at this time.
And I think they were waiting anxiously for
"Is he gonna have brain damage?"
So when I opened my eyes, twinkle my toes
and I looked over at my mom
and even though I had the breathing tube down me,
I said, "Hey mom."
And I think that kind of sealed the deal of
I'm gonna be alright.
I definitely beat astronomical odds
by walking off that boat.
I always tell people that I kind of,
the word miracle is thrown around a lot
and I'm religious and I don't like using the word miracle.
And he does not have any neurologic deficits at all.
It's really a testament to the teamwork
that we have in the operating room
but also that there's something else looking after him
besides just the personnel
and the doctors and nursing staff here at Rush.
Something bigger than all of us and
I think Dr. Jweied and his team are
a big part of that, a big reason for them.
Postoperatively, it takes a large team as well.
And it's the nursing care in the ICU as well as
our physical therapist that worked with Chris every day
to help him get up and
increase his strength.
It takes our nutritionist and dietitian.
It takes our consultants,
including the cardiologist,
our pulmonary doctors, our intensivists in the ICU.
It's a huge team.
They were amazing.
I think they're all angels sent from heaven.
I mean, the way they not only treated me,
but they treated my family,
and made everybody comfortable, and obviously made me
better to wake up today and talk to you.
So it's a very tough recovery when they cut you wide open.
There's a lot to heal.
They were very accommodating in listening
to what my pains were,
listening to what my worries were.
But you know, today you see me sitting before you,
I feel strong.
I could tell anybody else
that's been through this procedure,
hang in there, fight through it, because
There is light at the end of the tunnel.
We couldn't be prouder of him.
He's doing everything he can to take care of his health and
really advocate cardiovascular health to people around him.
Very blessed to have everything that I have today.
Getting a second chance at life.
What everybody's done for me,
I'm not gonna let anybody down and
I'm gonna live my second life,
as I call it, a lot better than I lived my first.