The Day I Died

When I began experiencing chest pain that was different from my usual heartburn symptoms, I denied I could possibly be having a heart attack, but chewed 4 baby aspirin just in case. Despite years of community education about the need to call 911 and seek immediate emergency care when experiencing signs and symptoms of a heart attack, more than 350,000 individuals experienced an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in 2016. Of those, only 12% survived. Bystander recognition of cardiac arrest and prompt intervention with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and rapid defibrillation is essential for out-of-hospital survival. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have the right people with the right equipment in the right place at the right time. I don’t know why, but I was one of the lucky ones