The unidentified woman, whose case was described in a new report, suffered an electrical short-circuit that would have caused cardiac arrest if she hadn’t had a defibrillator in her chest. The device recorded the exact time, and her doctor later discovered that she suffered an attack as her brother’s wife was being buried.

This was the only time that her AICD fired over the last 6 months. Stress can be so powerful in ones body. This type of incidence is unfortunate, and she was lucky, but the technology does allow us to better examine how our bodies react to situations and stress.

The woman’s brush with death could have been coincidental. But it came exactly a week after her father’s unexpected death; the sister-in-law collapsed and died the same day after hearing that her father-in-law had died.

Post from: Blisstree

Answer Is In… You Can Die From A Broken Heart!

• Jesus couldn’t have shouted at his death if he were suffocated, but could have shouted if he had a ruptured heart.
• Jesus suffered further damage for four to six hours after he fell as he carried the cross.
• A Roman soldier speared Jesus’s heart and John described how blood and water poured out.

To those who celebrate Easter, have a peaceful Good Friday.

Tags: easter, good friday, jesus, crucifixion, heart, heart disease, david ball, injury

Post from: Blisstree

Jesus Died of a Broken Heart

If a defibrillator had been available, Louis might have been saved. His parents, John and Karen Acompora, have established the Louis Acompora Foundation to help enact laws that require every school to have an automated external defibrillator (AED). John Acompora estimates that at least 30 lives have been saved in New York since such a law was passed.

The News page of the Foundation website has some amazing stories of students, teachers, coaches, and other school personnel who were saved by AED’s at school. It almost makes me think we should all have access to one nearby. A Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator sells for just over $1,000 at Amazon.com. Wouldn’t it be nice if prices dropped by at least half so we could all own one?

Like this post? Why not read another? Every page you read at A Hearty Life in March is helping to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

Tags: aed, defibrillators, commotio cordis, heart, heart disease, cardiac arrest, diseases, illness, health, louis acompora, athletes

Times Union, March 25, 2007

Post from: Blisstree

Commotio Cordis – Another Rare Heart Condition That Strikes During Sports

Christa had no idea that she’d been “asleep” for so long and had no sense of the passing of time. For three days, she enjoyed the company of her family, including four daughters and three grandchildren. She even gave a television interview. When her internal clock chimed, Christa lost consciousness again.

The heart attack and stroke damaged her brain to the extent that it is only able to be fully active for a few days at a time. This past weekend was the fifth time she’s been alert since becoming comatose.

Dr. Randall Bjork:

There’s really no reference point in our medical literature … Christa’s brain is on the ropes, so to muster enough energy to have three days of conversation she has to be in relative hibernation for months.”

This is a miracle. This is all mystical and I can’t explain it. We don’t have a name for this, but I call it ‘cyclical awakenings.’

Guardian Unlimited, March 9, 2007

Like this post? Why not read another? Every page you read at A Hearty Life in March is helping to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

Tags: coma, comatose, vegetative state, heart, heart attack, heart disease, stroke, diseases, illness, health, medicine, christa lilly

Post from: Blisstree

The Amazing Story of Christa Lilly, Heart Attack and Stroke Victim

Seventeen-year-old Matt Dexter was helping to construct a barn when he accidentally triggered a nail gun that was being lowered down the ladder to him. Matt was shot in the chest with a three and a quarter inch nail that punctured the right ventricle of his heart.

I dropped the gun and looked down and I could see the head of the nail stuck on the outside of my shirt. I wanted to take it out, but I was scared and didn’t know what to think really.

Fortunately, he left the nail in which served to seal the injury and prevent major blood loss. Matt took only a few days to recover and is awaiting the birth of his twins. Let’s keep the nail guns away from babies and dad!

Like this post? Why not read another? Every page you read at A Hearty Life in March is helping to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

Tags: accident, freak accident, heart, heart disease, nail, matt dexter, diseases, illness, health

Post from: Blisstree

A Nail in the Heart

Update: The 12-year-old attacker has been sentenced to two years in a juvenile prison.

WFRV, November 22, 2006 (This is the second time today I’ve linked to WFRV. Do they have a hearty news watch?)

Technorati Tags: comb, rattail comb, students, stabbing, heart, heart disease, diseases, health, crime, bullying, bullies

Post from: Blisstree

Student Stabbed in the Heart with a Comb

[Dr. Eugene] Costantini said doctors repaired puncture wounds in Bertakis’ heart from the barb, which entered the left side, pierced the septum separating the two chambers of the heart and then bore through the right side. Doctors saw the barb sticking out of his heart when they began surgery, Costantini said, and pulled it through.

Mr. Bertakis is in critical but stable condition. What in the world is going on with these stingrays?!

Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2006

Technorati Tags: stingrays, stingray, james bertakis, accidents, steve irwin, crocodile hunter, heart, heart disease, diseases, illness, health, freak accident

Post from: Blisstree

Stingray Pierces Florida Man’s Heart

His producer, John Stainton, said:

He came over the top of the stingray and the barb went up into his chest and put a hole in his heart.

Our condolences to his wife and co-host Terri and his two young children.

Guardian Unlimited, September 4, 2006

Technorati Tags: heart, steve irwin, crocodile hunter, stingray, accident, heart disease, disease, illness, health

Post from: Blisstree

Steve Irwin Dies of Stingray Wound to the Heart

Ian Johnson, 40, told a coroner’s inquest how the four-inch stainless steel knife “slipped from my grasp” during some rough and tumble play with his son, Conor, 11, while he prepared dinner. The knife pierced the left ventricle of Conor’s heart.

What a horrible thing to happen to all of them.

Times Online, July 7, 2006

Post from: Blisstree

Father Accidentally Stabs Son in Heart

He climbed on a worktop, took a knife from a kitchen block and began to make a sandwich.

After laying out the bread, meat and salad cream he fell, with the knife puncturing his chest through his rib cage, passing into his heart and a lung.

This gives me the chills. Children are so unpredictable and accident-prone. I remember several years ago when a pre-teen was goofing around while doing homework and stabbed himself in the heart with a pencil. Luckily, his mom was a nurse and she kept him from pulling the pencil out before they could get to the hospital. If he had, he might have bled to death.

Poor little Brandon and his family.

Telegraph, June 6, 2006

Technorati Tags: heart, accidents, children, kids, brandon clawson, stabbing, disease, health

Post from: Blisstree

Boy Accidentally Stabs Self Through Heart