Here on the Infographics Show, we’ve already discussed the many beliefs of what happens
when you die.
We also mentioned that some 18 percent of the United States population might be proof
the spirit lives on when they are revived after dying from a heart-attack.
But, how exactly can this happen, and why?
And, since they’ve died and then returned, perhaps they could describe what the afterlife,
if it exists, is like.
Let’s find out on this episode of the Infographics Show, Man Dead for 45 Minutes Comes Back to
Life.
Tony Yahle went to bed on August 4th of 2013 as he did on most nights without a sense that
anything was wrong.
His wife, Melissa, slept soundly by his side until she got up at 4am the next morning.
This is when she noticed something serious.
Anthony was breathing strangely and, alarmed, she tried to wake him.
He was unable to regain consciousness.
A nurse, Melissa performed CPR on her husband with her son’s assistance.
In a panic, the family called 911.
Those who first entered the residence discovered a heartbeat only after they had shocked Tony
multiple times.
He was then rushed by ambulance to a hospital where doctors desperately tryed to save Tony’s
life searched for the source of his problems.
However, what they suspected it was, a blockage of his arteries, was not the case.
They were confused.
They searched further, but as far as the medical professionals could tell, there was nothing
that could explain what was happening.
Hours passed and he appeared to stabilize.
Then, that afternoon, things took a drastic turn for the worse.
Tony’s condition rapidly deteriorated and once again became life-threatening, or in
technical terms, he coded.
The doctors worked through emergency life-saving procedures but after they had tried all that
they could for 45 minutes, without signs of life, doctors finally gave up.
Tony had completely flatlined and was not breathing.
He didn’t have any blood pressure or a heartbeat.
His body showed absolutely no electrical activity.
Time of death was given.
Minutes passed.
As his daughter Kristen would say, she was simply overwhelmed with the news of her father’s
death and felt a part of her heart had been ripped out.
Anthony’s 17-year-old son, Lawrence, couldn’t believe what the doctors were telling him.
He entered the room with his pastor by his side and started talking to his father on
the bed.
Looking at Tony, motionless in a hospital gown with tubes entering and exiting his body,
Lawrence refused to give up hope.
He told him as he pointed at his father, “Dad, you’re not going to die today.”
Shortly after, it was the pastor who noticed a heartbeat.
According to Dr. Raja Nazir, a hospital cardiologist, it was far from a normal signal.
Instead it was just the smallest of electrical activity that appeared once or twice each
minute.
It was the last thing he expected, but all he needed to try once more to save Tony’s
life.
He squeezed a medical bag to elevate blood pressure and worked along with the others
on resuscitation measures one more time.
Slowly but surely the heart rate grew stronger and more predictable.
In time it was clear that despite all odds Tony would live.
The doctors at the Kettering Medical Center who had treated Tony could not easily explain
what had happened.
They had never witnessed someone come back from the dead after they had flatlined and
emergency procedures has stopped for five to seven minutes.
However, Michael Sayre, a professor specializing in emergency medicine in Seattle, Washington
had an idea of what happened based on precedent.
Sayre explained that the emergency procedures carried out by the Kettering doctors manually
forced oxygen around Tony’s body and kept his brain from dying.
Beyond this, cooling him may have also helped prevent damage to the tissue of his brain.
If a brain is cool it can last a surprisingly long time without fresh oxygen.
In fact, during surgery circulating blood may be cut off from the brain for more than
seven minutes.
Sayre says that no one truly knows why it’s possible to do this with no negative effects,
but it is.
In other words, because of the doctors’ efforts and by keeping him cool, Tony’s
brain was protected which gave him a chance to make a comeback.
. However, it has also happened before that
while attempting to resuscitate patients that air gets stuck within their bodies.
This causes pressure to mount in the lungs and disrupts blood flowing on to the heart.
In these cases, disconnecting the breathing tube bag and pushing the chest dislodges this
air and once again allows blood to properly circulate.
This can effectively revive a person.
This may have revived Tony.
What his and other similar cases seem to suggest is that resuscitation efforts, which traditionally
last from 20 to 25 minutes, may need to be relooked at.
A 2012 study has shown that when hospital staff puts in more time trying to save their
patients that a higher percentage survive.
People like Tony are living proof that trying to resuscitate patients more than once and
over extended periods of time saves lives.
But this is far from where the miracle of the case of Tony Yahle ends.
Though his doctors were thrilled that he survived, they warned his family that more likely than
not he would be a changed man after so much time without oxygen.
They believed that he would likely show signs of significant damage to both his heart and
brain.
In other words, they feared that he would become a human vegetable.
However, the 37-year-old diesel mechanic is just as mentally alert today as he ever was.
While he now has a pacemaker and a defibrillator, his heart has been ruled healthy and without
any damage.
This is yet another miracle in addition to the previous one of his regaining life.
On top of that, despite the whole ordeal he had no broken ribs and wasn’t even sore
from CPR or shock treatments.
As his wife would know, this is something that almost never happens under these circumstances.
It may also be a blessing of a kind that he remembers nothing beyond going to bed on August
4th.
He was unaware completely that he had a medical emergency or that he had died and come back
to the land of the living.
That is, until his family and doctors convinced him it happened.
Although for the rest of us, who wanted to know what he could have experienced in that
time, it is only natural that we are a bit disappointed.
Tony credits his survival to God.
His son and pastor had started to pray really hard right before his monitors were unplugged.
It was after their prayer along with his son’s demands that he would not die that he first
showed some signs of life.
However, as we described before, those who specialize in emergency medicine have a scientific
explanation or theory for what happened.
As Tony can’t remember, we’re no closer to knowing if he experienced life after death
for a short while or if changes in electrical signals and oxygen were followed by an absence
of anything.
Maybe it’s better that we don’t know for certain.
What do you think?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called Man Who Got Hit With an Iron Rod Through
His Head!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!