After heart attack, dad 'lucky to be alive'
Mark Keehan, who survived a near-fatal heart attack in May, holds his 8-year-old daughter, Hannah, on his lap. Photo By Peter Zuzga
Mark and Wendy Keehan were sitting in their family room last spring, chatting about how they would spend their Saturday, when their lives suddenly changed forever.
Quiet Saturday mornings are hard to come by with four young kids, Wendy said, but the Keehans' daughter, Sarah, had eight friends sleep over the night before to celebrate her 12th birthday. With the girls in the basement, the Keehans found themselves in one of those rare quiet moments.
"That's when Mark stopped breathing," Wendy said.
Mark, 53, had a major heart attack and went into cardiac arrest. Undiagnosed heart disease caused blockage in his heart that knocked out its electrical rhythm. Just after 9 a.m. May 1, Wendy was racing to save her husband's life.
"Not a lot was going through my mind. I just started reacting," Wendy said. "I immediately gave him two breaths and went to the phone to call 911. Then I came back, and pulled him onto the floor and started CPR."
Wendy had given CPR as an emergency room nurse about 25 years ago. She barely remembered it, but soon fell into a steady rhythm of chest compressions, she said.
Within four minutes of the 911 call, Brookfield Fire Department paramedics pulled into the driveway of the Keehans' Dorset Lane home and rushed inside.
"Mark was unconscious on the floor, not breathing. He exhibited an electrical rhythm that has a very low save rate to it. Less than 1 percent of people in this rhythm would survive," said Deputy Fire Chief Collin Curtis, who was among those at the scene.
"He was flatlined," Wendy said simply.
Only after paramedics pushed medications through an IV and inserted a tracheal breathing tube did Mark's heart begin beating.
Curtis said paramedics were then able to use a defibrillator to shock Mark's heart into a stable rhythm. They rushed him to Elmbrook Memorial Hospital, and then to the Wisconsin Heart Hospital in Wauwatosa to have stents inserted.
Then, just hours after Mark lay on his family room floor on the brink of death, he was on his way to an incredible full recovery.
Road to recovery
Mark has no recollection of the days leading up to May 1, nor the days that immediately followed. He regained consciousness slowly. Wendy anxiously waited to see if her husband would suffer permanent neurological or physical damage.
"We were concerned about his neurological status, if everything would come back, because of the lack of oxygen," she said. "It was about 10 days where it was uncertain. He woke up kind of confused."
Mark said the severity of what happened didn't hit him during inpatient rehab.
"The full impact didn't sink in for a while," he said. "A lot of it, I didn't even want to hear it. I didn't want to hear what had happened, or how close I came to this or that."
Headed back to work
Mark was sent home to finish his rehab after 25 days in the hospital. Within six weeks, he was able to drive. This week, he is returning to work part time as an engineer. The Keehans also learned just this week that Mark's heart - incredibly - suffered no permanent damage and is functioning at 100 percent.
"Now it feels like it was just a bad dream," Wendy said.
Sitting around a patio table with Mark, Wendy and their daughters on a sunny afternoon, however, it seems more like a dream come true.
"I feel like the luckiest guy in the world," Mark said.
Brian Moe, a Brookfield paramedic who responded to the scene, said there is no doubt in his mind that the early CPR done by Wendy saved her husband's life.
"I want to stress that early CPR was the key to his recovery," he said. "Being a nurse, his wife initiated CPR right away - and that saved his life."
Mark and Wendy say they are forever grateful to the fast response and extensive training of the city's paramedics.
"When people are experiencing, literally, the worst day of their life, and we come in and make a difference - that's what we love about this job," Curtis said.
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Looks like we have yet another member of our small but exclusive club. I preceded Mark in membership by about 16 years. And I'm sure that the membership increases each year as countless unsung heroes continue 'just doing their jobs'.
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Dear Mark and Wendy,
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Back to topSantas Elf - Aug 28, 2010 7:29 PM - Report Abuse
I thank God for a wonderful friend who happened to be at my home with me when I went into arrest. And I also thank God for the paramedics and firemen who responded so quickly to both restart my heart and lungs, and stabilize me as we rushed to the hospital.
And today also, I thank God for allowing Mark a bit more time on earth as a member of our club!
salsa sally - Aug 25, 2010 4:27 PM - Report Abuse
A day doesn't go by that I don't thank God for Mark's miraculous recovery. He has big plans for you still! I hope all goes well with the transition of going back to work this week.
Let's try to get our families together for a meal.
Hugs,
Sally and the boys XOXO