Survivor Stories
An important component of the SCAA are our Survivors. They have survived a sudden cardiac arrest and share their stories here in the hopes that others may benefit from their experience.
Click links below each story for these survivors' stories.
Do you have a survivor story to tell? Let us know!
Tori Sorenson | Jim Niskanen | Christopher DirksLife, Death, and the Space Between - My experience with Sudden Cardiac Arrest (3 months later) |
Jamie LaLondeMy name is Jamie LaLonde, I'm 20 years old and at 18 I suffered a sudden cardiac arrest while working in the Mall of America. I was working at Forever 21 and I asked to take my break early which was unusual for me to do, I was on my way to the break room where I would have been alone, when I fainted and started having what looked like a seizure. | Lila CrossfieldMy name is Lila Crossfield and January 18th 2011 was the day that changed my life. I do not remember that day or several weeks before or after. | Henry Tarshis
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Brooks BelerAge 13
| Meghan HarriottOn January 31, 2011 I started my work day like any other with sitting talking to one of my employees. She was explaining to me what had happened over the weekend, and we were laughing when all of a sudden I stopped laughing and slumped over my desk | Jerri LiuI don't know how to start. All I can say is—I am glad to be alive! |
Jen Morrow
| Ralph Lind
| Tyler Byall
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Faith Sendelweck
| Joy Day
| Judy Mims
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Jerry Wiesenhahn
| Jim Soderberg
| Amy Jones
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Brandon Santielvero
| Pamela Bonin
| Ryan Arnold
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Linda Dickson
| Stephen Johnson
| Kayla Donahe
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Gary Buscombe
| John Beechy
| Dusten Perry
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Wayne Chamberlain
| Joe Moscato
| Paul E. MixBy Dixie MixSave Date: 11/3/08 We had been walking Highland Mall on a regular schedule every week, Monday through Friday, and while walking at about 10:00 a.m. on November 3, 2008, Paul told me he didn't feel good. |
Scott CorronFor 44-year-old Scott Corron, being in shape is part of life. "I've biked probably 6-to 10,000 miles a year for the last 15 years," said Corron. By watching him ride, you'd never think he was in an emergency room not too long ago. | Jared MarchbanksWhen Fullerton College athlete Jared Marchbanks lost consciousness and hit the pavement face first in a campus parking lot 14 days ago, death was coming at him fast. | Emmanuel Negedufrom UTSports.com
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Taylor MaierI never would have thought that the one thing I loved would become the one thing to nearly destroy me. | Jerry Jolliff
| Stephen L. WoodcockMay 2nd dawned bright and sunny in Kokomo, Indiana, and Steve thought it would be a perfect day for a bike ride. After taking his wife out for breakfast and running a few errands, Steve got on the bike and headed out. His last words were, “I’ll be home for the Derby.” Watching the Kentucky Derby is a tradition in the home of these transplanted Kentuckians. |
Dawn Botwen-Hauver
| Vince Graziano
| James Wick
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Carol Mathewson
| Brian Trotter
| Hugh Findlay
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Scott HetheringtonIt was Friday November 30. I was at work as a firefighter at Station #7. around 3:00 pm a call came in for a structure fire with possible victims inside. On the way we could see a large dark column of smoke coming up over the tree line. We knew this was no false alarm. I don't even remember getting off of the truck just being inside with lots of fire. The next memory I have is waking up in the E.R. | Tom CurtisAbout a week before my 15th birthday, I remember waking up randomly, and noticed I couldn't breathe, my brother luckily was sleeping in my room that night because we watched a film together and fell asleep, so I was able to wake him with my last breaths, he asked my mum to ring an ambulance but she didn't believe me, she thought I was attention seeking and said go to bed, my brother thought something was definitely wrong but she wouldn't let him ring for help. | Brian Eatmon
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Shelly Copeland
| Emil CrisiWe were on vaction in Myrtle Beach, three days into the vacation, my wife, my daughter and I that night were watching the fireworks from the balcony of our hotel. I never had any chest pain, shortness of breath, arm pain, or any other symptoms. | Genevieve WilliamsAt 4:00 am on May 7, 2007 I woke up with chest pain that spread out my arms and up to my jaws. I knew it wasn't indigestion so had my husband call 911 and get me an aspirin. When the EMT got there they started IV's, gave me nitro glycerin and oxygen and rushed me to the ER. |
Bill Bondar
| Evan Cameron
| Keith White
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Libby Schaibly
| DuWayne LoecherWhile working as a nurse in a small town clinic, it was a usual day when at 3:00 pm I collapsed at the nurse's station and had a sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 47. | Daniel W. Keizur
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Christopher Bader
| Tom Brannigan
| Brian F. Pendleton
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Jackie Battaglia
| Lorinda BurlesonOn September 15, 2007, I had a sudden cardiac arrest. At the time, I was 47 years old, healthy, other than high blood pressure that I controlled with medication. | John Berberick
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Mark Storace, Sr.
| Lewis Stokes
| Connie Snell
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Lisa Herchenroether
| Mary Pakusch
| Jeff BundayFour days before my 50th birthday my golfing neighbor buddies took me out for 18 holes. We turned the golf carts in and were heading out the clubhouse door when my friend said I said "oh my God" and he turned around to see me falling to the ground. |
Darrel Arnold
| Stephen Johnson
| Virginia Monahan
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Ethan Miller
| Charlie Miller
| Ethan Middleton
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Dwight Mensinger
| Kelly Mealman
| Mitzi McGee
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James McCooey
| Mary LyonsSave Date: 1987 | Julie Lycksell
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Jose Lepervanche
Age: 53Save Date: 07/01/2007 Activity: Camping July 1st, 2007 was a typical opening day at Woodruff Scout Reservation near Blairsville, Georgia. More than 900 scouts and 100 leaders were arriving to start a summer week full of fun activities. | Ashleigh Lawrence
| Marsha Landau
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Andrea LaFleur
| Rodney Koser
| George Kinney
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Timmy Kiedrowski
| Phil KezeleAge: 48 | Gene Johnson
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Kathy Jensen
| Daniel Jennings
| Henry Jampel, MDAge: 44 |
Paul Huff
| Kelli Harris
| Mary Gyant
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Dimitry Gorbenko
| Nick Giorgione
| Butch Gibbs
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Natasha FleischmanSave Date: 01/24/02 | Karen Etheridge
| Patrick EmmettAge: 59 |
Rob Elliot
| Ron DundonSave Date: 02/9/03 | Rodney Dudar
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Barbara Drago
| Tracey Conway
| Mike Carr
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Bob CapuanoSave Date: 09/26/03 | Dick Bylund
| Charlie Butruff, Jr.
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Richard Brown
| Paul Beauregard
| Jim Baum
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Barry Asman
| Ed Wilson
| Amber Yoder
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Carolyn Whitehead
| Mari Ann Wearda
| Amanda Trevathan
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Mike Tighe
| Barbara Tibbitts
| Stuart Thompson
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Brett Taylor
| Mary Tappe | Ashley Shephard
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Bob Schriever
| Judith Schneider
| William Schafer
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James Scahill
| Sam Sangetta
| Tim Ries
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Selmer Peterson
| Paula Opheim
| Stan Nelson
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Matt Nader
| Kevin Mulroy
| Rick Fortner
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Dewaine Craig
| Fred Anklam
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Deb Gorombei and Lori Plate hurried through the Orlando Airport. It was Friday, September 23, 2005 and their flight to Phoenix would take off shortly. It had been a busy trip with long hours at a software conference and the two nurses along with two other R&G Medical Consultants employees were ready to be home. Missing the plane was not an option.
On Aug. 17, 2008, at the age of 56, I participated in the Danskin Triathlon in Seattle. It was a beautiful day and I was very excited. I said goodbye to my daughter and headed for the starting line. That's the last thing I remember until I woke up from a coma three days later.
Just six months ago I survived V-Fib and SCA. Before this happened, I had completed four marathons, the last one just four months before this happened. I was considered by most of my family and friends to be Mr. Healthy. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't eat fast food, and I maintain a relatively healthy diet, with the occasional junk food splurges.
It was Friday, July 13, 2007. I was at the office working on a very difficult computer conversion of a management system involving fifteen users and three locations. I was working sending the data base to a Michigan location and then downloading the results, no mistakes allowed. I decided to break for supper and went home (my first lucky break).
July 10, 2008 started like any other day. I woke up early and started getting ready for work. For the last month I have been working at Bubba Gumps in the kitchen. On this day I was assigned to work at the grill. After working for a while, I remember feeling hot and stepping away from the grill. The next thing I know I was waking up at the hospital.
I was able to celebrate my 33rd birthday on April 17, thanks to the quick emergency responses from several groups of people in Tampa, Florida in Hillsborough County. It all began on March 4, 2008.
Bill Bondar knows exactly where he died: on the sidewalk outside his house in a retirement community in southern New Jersey. It was 10:30 on the night of May 23, a Wednesday, and Bondar was 61a retired computer programmer with a cherry red Gibson bass guitar, an instrument he had first picked up around the same time as Chuck Berry.
Six weeks before my 16th birthday, I got out of bed on an average school day, and after taking a shower, my dad informed me that school had been cancelled due to a thick layer of ice that had fallen during the night. I was already wide awake, and usually can't fall back asleep after getting up, but that day I decided to go back to bed. The last thing I remember is laying down on my bed. At that moment I went into cardiac arrest.
I was 52 and a father of two kids when I had my SCA at my church's 60th Anniversary Celebration Dance. I was an active Field Hockey coach and finished the week coaching my High School Field Hockey team.
It was my husband's 52nd birthday and I was away from home, but planned to return that day to celebrate. Instead, he had to drive 500 miles from our home in Louisiana in the middle of the night to find me revived on a ventilator in the CCU in a hospital outside Nashville, Tennessee. The poor man must have been so very afraid when he got that dreadful call at 2:00 pm.
Friday October 6, 2006 was a special day for my wife Laurie and me. I took the day off work to go to Portland, Oregon, about 150 miles from our home to pick up a dog that we imported from Hungary. On the way home, Laurie and I stopped in the Columbia River Gorge to walk our new family member and to show her the new country that she would call home.
On Tuesday, July 15, 2008 my 53-year-old husband fell down in front of my eyes. We were walking in the woods with our three dogs. I pulled the cell phone from his pocket, performed chest compresion-only CPR as per the newest AHA Public Service Annoucements.
I was at home in the evening after a day of work as a Real Estate Agent. It was a Sunday evening, I collasped in the kitchen, my wife called 911 and they advised her on how to perform CPR while the EMTs were in route to my home. Upon arrival, they used a defibrillator at least twice, possibly 3 times to get my heart beat back.
It was April 3, 2004, and I had just finished 40 minutes of heavy fighting while teaching a karate and jujitsu class at a recreation center here in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. I was talking with another instructor, just a couple of old guys dripping in sweat, and started to feel faint but no chest pain and no arm pain.
On May 21, 2006 my husband and I were invited to our daughters home for dinner. I had told her that there were things that needed to be done here at my house and I didn't think I would be coming but her father would come. She gave me a little bit of a hard time... and it's a good thing she did.
I have a long history of heart disease. Starting at 37 years old in 1977 old when I was diagnosed with heart disease. In 1978 I suffered an M.I. In age 44 I had my first 7 vessel CABAG surgery. In 1992 an "Electro Conversion" was preformed for "Arterial Fibrillation" which only got me back into normal rhythm for a few weeks and then the AF returned and I have lived with it ever since handling it with medication.
It was just another Tuesday afternoon in August. I am lucky enough in my job to be able to telecommute from home once a week. It was a fairly busy day taking conference call meetings and working on project tasks.
"How do you say 'Thank you' to those who have just saved your life?" These are the words of Lewis Stokes (Lew) of Garden Grove, California. 
When her dog Shuggy went into the bedroom, the pup sensed a problem and began to howl. Connie's husband Jay came in to see what the fuss was about and he found his wife motionless on the bed, tongue out, eyes rolled back in her head with her skin beginning to take on a purplish tint.
On November 21, 2006 my husband and eight year old son drove me to the hospital because I was experiencing mild chest discomfort. En route, I went into ventricle fibrillation. In my son's own words, "I wasn't scared until I saw your head hit Daddy's shoulder, but then you started snoring."
On July 15, 2006, the morning of my daughter's bridal shower, I suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. I don't remember anything, until about five days later when I became aware of being in the hospital.
One would never expect that a young, strapping man would collapse on a baseball field. Marina High School baseball coach Darrel Arnold, just 34, went into cardiac arrest.
On May 27, 2007, as he was working out on the treadmill at the fire station, this fire lieutenant/paramedic developed chest discomfort. 
On July 15, 2002, Ethan and another friend were taking turns doing flips on the trampoline. When it came to Ethan's third or fourth turn, he said he didn't feel so good, turned to walk away, said "I'm going blind," and passed out.
On the afternoon of September 19, 2002, I suffered a Sudden Cardiac Arrest. About two minutes later, I was discovered by two co-workers...
Ethan Middleton was playing basketball when his heart failed and he fell to the court. He is 13.
On February 2, 2004, just after 10 am, this husband and father of two suffered sudden cardiac death while in a meeting with a co-worker in his office in Fremont, Calif.
On March 20, 2003, 15-year-old Kelly suddenly collapsed. At first, her friends thought Kelly was just playing around. When she didn't respond to their questions, they realized Kelly was in trouble.
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On January 19, 2005, at age 65, Ed was on jury duty in San Diego. He especially remembers the six block walk to the court house: he had to stop several times a block so the pain would go away from his chest and left shoulder.
On December 6, 2002, Amber's music class was walking back to the school from a caroling field trip to downtown Kidron. As the group entered the school driveway, Amber collapsed.
Sudden Cardiac Death is unpredictable, striking anytime, anywhere, and no one is immune. Every few minutes or so this serial killer strikes down someone in the USA, as it did with Carolyn in 2002, but she was the lucky one in twenty that did not die.
July 26, 2002, was like any other day until I pulled up to a stoplight in Hampton, Iowa, and experienced sudden cardiac arrest. As I slumped over the steering wheel my car drifted across the highway, climbed the curb, knocked over a sign, and came to rest against a tree.
It's hard to try to explain to people exactly what happened to me when they ask me. I was unconscious most of the time, and no one knows why it happened to me. It was totally random. No one imagined that I had a heart problem, least of all me.
November 19, 1998, started off as a terrific day for me. A few days earlier I had submitted my request for early retirement from Boston Public Health Commission.
On November 22, 1999 my husband and I were going out to dinner. As we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, my husband reports I said, "I feel a rush." When he turned to ask me what I meant, he found me staring straight ahead.
On April 22nd after a 25-minute workout, I dropped. The guy next to me said I looked fine right before it happened. Apparently I was shaking so badly that they assumed I was having a seizure.
Age: 14 
The Hoover High School Lady Buccaneers Varsity Basketball Team were hosting Oak Mountain for the Girls Class 6A Region 6 championship. In most years, this would have been just another game on just another night. But this game was much more than that.
Bob is a former college football official and has worked for the NFL's New England Patriots as a member of the sideline crew for 10 years. On September 14, 2002, Bob collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest while officiating a high school football game.
On January 11, 2003, my daughters and I traveled to Webster, NY, to cheer Bethany on as she participated in the Gold Junior Olympics for USA Swim. I was in no pain and had no idea of what was about to transpire. The next 24 hours remain a complete blank.
On November 2, 1999, at about 4:20 p.m. in Chicago O'Hare Airport, my wife, Ruth, and I were going to board a flight to Rome, Italy. We were using the moving sidewalk when I had a sudden cardiac arrest. Ruth stepped off the moving belt and I was thrown forward at the belt ending, technically dead.
On September 21, 1999, a cold and rainy day, Jim Scahill went to a ground breaking ceremony with some colleagues. On the way back from the ceremony, he dropped dead in sudden cardiac arrest.
Age: 44 
My exercise routine had been to play handball on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday afternoons, Friday evening and Sunday mornings. We were into the second game when BINGO! I was down and out, not breathing, with no pulse, my body turning lavender-blue.
Paula was finishing her second year at Purdue University in the school of Pharmacy when she had her arrest. She began her day by waking early and jogging the half mile to the workout facility. All she remembers of that morning is getting up and putting her hair in a ponytail.
On October 24, 2002, I was in the boarding area of United Airlines waiting for a flight to visit two of my sons and my two grandchildren who live in Southern California, when I collapsed.
Matt Nader was only seventeen on September 15, 2006, when his heart went into ventricular fibrillation during a football game.
At the time of my cardiac event I was 44 years old, and on July 3, 2002, I came home from work and felt sicker than I ever had before.
My SCA occurred in the afternoon on Friday, January 13, 1995. I was 32 years old, and it was my second anniversary at my first job as an attorney in Portland, Oregon. I collapsed around 3:30 pm, while talking to another attorney in my office.
After 20 minutes of easy ski climbing, Dewaine began to experience an extreme pain in the middle of his chest and shortness of breath. At first he said he thought he might have slightly pulled a muscle.
I had been working out regularly for several years. That morning I finished a normal workout for me, primarily using an elliptical machine. Following the workout, as I stood at a computer in the corner of the room, I collapsed.In the News
05/11/2012
Cameron Health Says Trial Shows Defibrillator Safe
By Vita Reed, Orange County Business Journal
05/11/2012
Not Even Cardiac Arrest Can stop This Marathoner
KEVIN TRESOLINI,Delaware Online
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