Who I am

I've been married to an amazing woman for over 10 years. We have two beautiful children. I'm an elder of our local church and I'm the Director of Business Development for Newchapter.

What I'm overcoming

Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Date of injury

2010-4-14 00:00:00

My Story

Sometime between 12:10pm and 12:20 pm on April 14th my world was turned upside down. During a run over my lunch hour, I went into full cardiac arrest and collapsed. At 32 years of age I had a heart attack...at 32! This was completely unexpected and the circumstances surrounding my survival are nothing short of miraculous. For starters, I've been a runner all of my adult life and I had completed a 4.2 mile run just two days earlier. I have never ran over the lunch hour before, but on this day, I thought I would run home during lunch. I happened to collapse in front of someone's house who just happened to be coming home for lunch, which I'm told this person, Carlos, didn't do on a regular basis. When he found me, I was not breathing, I had no pulse, and my flesh was blue. Carlos called for help. A woman named Gayla was just one block away at a park eating lunch with her husband. When she heard Carlos yell, the two came as quickly as they could. Gayla was an administrator and former director of nursing at the local hospital and immediately sprang into action. Gayla began performing CPR, and ultimately saved my life. She later told me that I had been without air for at least six to eight minutes. Experts say brain death starts to occur four to six minutes after someone experiences cardiac arrest. There were several others involved in my rescue including the local ambulance and hospital staff. Everyday I learn more about these events that make my survival seem more like a miracle.

My Heroes

My grandfather.

What I've learned so far

For over 3 months I had been going to cardiac rehab at 8 AM at least 3 days a week. A few months after my heart attack, my cardiologist demanded that I complete phase II cardiac rehab before I got back to my normal running routine. At first I thought she was being a little to strict with me. I really felt like I was doing great and was ready to get back to being active. But after being reminded of everything my body went through (and everything that my family went through) I conceded. I was scheduled to start my first of 24 sessions at the Carle Heart Center in Urbana, IL. Which is a 20 minute drive. This has been a pretty humbling experience. Less than a year ago, I was running sub 8 minute miles for up to six miles at a time. In cardiac rehab, I was forced to start slow. The program is designed to help the average person recover from a heart attack or major cardiac related surgery. I was also 25 – 30 years younger than anyone else in the class. I was committed, though, not to go in there with a bad attitude and to do everything that I was told to do. And that’s what I did. I started on the treadmill walking for 10 minutes. During this time period, those in the class would listen to a lecture related to good heart health. These lectures, for the most part, were pretty informative. After the treadmill, I was moved to the stationary bike for 15 minutes and then free weights. This part was the most frustrating because it was so easy. I was started with 3 pound dumb bells to do 1 set of very basic upper body exercises. But again, many people in phase II cardiac rehab recently had major chest surgery so their upper bodies would be extremely sore. I was a good boy though and did everything I was asked to do. It took me about a month to get to a point where I was allowed to run on the treadmill. Eventually, they let me run the whole time. It was around my 10th session when I did have one set back. I was about 20 minutes into my run when all of a sudden my heart rate shot up to the 190’s. Which was scary because my ICD will go off at 200. It turns out that I was having a Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT). It did turn out not to be a big deal and they let me resume normal activities by the next session. For insurance reasons, I was switched to a different clinic to finish out my last month of cardiac rehab. The switch was cool with me because it was to the local hospital, Kirby. I’m happy to say that all went well and I’ve been able to run up to 3 miles during each session. I’ve keep a pretty accurate log on my Runkeeper page. My last day of rehab was on August 25th & I finished strong with my best run yet averaging 9 and a half minute mile pace. I’m feeling good and I'm enjoying the opportunity to running outside again.

I Will again

My Goal is to: By

My first milestone is to: By 

My second milestone is to: By

My third milestone is to: By