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Article Category: PeopleCare

KevinCare

Surviving sudden cardiac death—and living life to the fullest

Published on January 24, 2023

Last updated 01:40 PM January 08, 2024

Doing good CPR is critical to save someone from cardiac arrest.

There aren’t many people out there who can say they survived cardiac arrest at 30. Kevin Miskewicz can.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 90% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest die. Those who survive often have permanent neurological disabilities. But Kevin’s story has an incredibly fortunate ending, thanks to the highly coordinated work of his medical experts at Wellstar.

Recovering from cardiac arrest is something Kevin will never forget. It lives forever as a piece of his health history—one that includes a dedicated healthcare team—and his wife, who was the first to save his life.

There aren’t many people out there who can say they survived cardiac arrest at 30. Kevin can.

CPR to the rescue

Kevin woke up on Labor Day 2017 at 5:30 AM to take the dog out. Pausing to adjust the thermostat as he came in, he fell, knocking over a lamp.

He was in cardiac arrest.

With no symptoms and no known pre-existing condition, this was unexpected, but that didn’t stop his wife, Andrea, from jumping into action.

“If it weren’t for me knocking over a lamp when I passed out,” said Kevin, “she would have never woken up and saved my life.”

In addition to calling 911 and unlocking the door for the paramedics, Andrea performed CPR for 10 minutes.

“Kevin’s wife doing good CPR was critical,” said Dr. Arthur Reitman, the interventional cardiologist who was a vital part of Kevin’s treatment team at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center. “More than five minutes of poor blood flow to the brain can result in permanent irreparable injury from which a patient is unable to recover.”

Coordinating multidisciplinary care to save a life

When paramedics arrived at Kevin’s home, he had no pulse and was not breathing. As the paramedics performed their lifesaving work, he technically died two times.

The ambulance took him to Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center, where he was initially assessed and treated by Dr. David Jacoboff. The interventional cardiologist implanted an intra-aortic balloon pump to stabilize him. Then, he transferred Kevin to Wellstar Kennestone for highly specialized heart care.

When Kevin arrived at Wellstar Kennestone by helicopter, his heart function wasn’t strong enough to support his body. Dr. Reitman and a team of doctors including a cardiologist, a pulmonologist and critical care doctors worked in tandem to put Kevin on an advanced life support system called veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Better known as VA-ECMO, it took the heart “offline” so it could heal. The technology removed unoxygenated blood from his body, oxygenated it and pumped it back in for the next three days.

“Very few places in the state—only four or five hospitals—have the technology and specialized training to put a patient on ECMO,” Dr. Reitman explained.

Kevin’s wife doing good CPR was critical. More than five minutes of poor blood flow to the brain can result in permanent irreparable injury from which a patient is unable to recover.

- Dr. Arthur Reitman

Interventional cardiologist, Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center

Preventing sudden cardiac death in the future

Dr. Reitman worked closely with Dr. Rajnish Prasad, Wellstar medical director of cardiovascular critical care services and Dr. Bryan Piedad, Wellstar electrophysiologist, to decide which treatments would give Kevin the best life moving forward.

Despite an extensive workup, there is no known cause for Kevin’s cardiac arrest. And there’s a chance it could happen again. If there’s ever a “next time,” Kevin’s doctors want him to survive.

“A defibrillator is meant to protect the patient once they leave the hospital,” said Dr. Piedad, who implanted the device. “Because Kevin was so young, we elected to put in a subcutaneous defibrillator—it’s implanted around the heart rather than inside it.”

The defibrillator constantly reads and interprets Kevin’s heart rhythm, preventing a future episode of sudden cardiac death by shocking the heart muscle if needed.

Kevin continues to follow up with Dr. Piedad once a year to make sure everything is looking good, to get his defibrillator checked and occasionally replace the generator.

“Dr. Piedad is one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met!” Kevin said.

Kevin also initiates a weekly transmission of data between his defibrillator and the Wellstar electrophysiology device clinic to help the team monitor his heart.

Understanding the bigger picture

There still isn’t any link that doctors—at Wellstar and other healthcare facilities—can say caused Kevin’s cardiac arrest.

Cardiac disease is often exacerbated by certain risk factors like cholesterol, obesity or diabetes/insulin resistance syndrome—none of which Kevin has. A genetic disorder is another possibility.

“Many people believe there are genetic disorders that have not been discovered yet that may predispose patients to cardiac arrest,” said Dr. Piedad. “His genetic testing is negative, but it doesn’t detect what hasn’t been discovered.”

That’s why Kevin is extra careful with his own daughter. Born after Kevin’s cardiac arrest, she got her first annual EKG when she was just three weeks old.

 

Returning to life as normal

After two weeks in the hospital, including six days in a medically-induced coma and eight in the intensive care unit, Kevin was finally ready to go home.

“In walks Dr. Reitman,” Kevin remembered about discharge day, “and he said, ‘It’s nothing short of a miracle that you’re walking out of here!’ That stuck with me. I’m incredibly grateful for the care I received and the quality of care at Wellstar.”

Years later, Kevin said it feels like it never happened. He’s returned to doing what he loves most—traveling. The next big trip on the calendar is all for his little girl—their family of three is heading to Disney. Then, it's off to Europe for their next adventure.

“I remain extremely grateful that I’m here today,” Kevin said.

Learn more about our integrated and collaborative heart care program.

Tags

Bryan Thomas Piedad Arthur Brian Reitman Rajnish Prasad
David Jacoboff North Fulton Medical Center Kennestone Regional Medical Center PeopleCare Heart Care Pulmonary Care
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