A heart attack is one such medical catastrophe that practically everyone fears. Nothing else can instill such terror as a heart attack. It is a fatal and unexpected incident that can occur without warning.
Evan Wasserstrom, a 40-year-old California man, recently survived not one, but eight ongoing heart episodes in a single day. He confronted death eight times in one day and still lived.
All of this occurred when Evan Wasserstrom was preparing to go for a stroll with his dog when he felt a peculiar discomfort in his body. The agony was unfamiliar, and the sensation was unlike anything he had ever felt.
With this in mind, he decided to dial 911 and told the operator that he required medical assistance for either a heart attack or the worst panic attack imaginable.
He said – “It was like the sun burning inside the veins of my left arm. Sweating profusely, I felt like I had just gone for a swim with all my clothes on. It was like no feeling I had ever experienced before.”
Evan’s decision to contact 911 proved to be a life-saving one for him as he began to lose consciousness and struggle for his life. Things became increasingly urgent as he moved closer to the Cedars Sinai Hospital, with rescuers continuously deploying defibrillators to revive him.
He went unconscious for 30 to 40 seconds during each heart attack. Paramedics had to revive him six times before he arrived at the hospital.
He said: “The paramedic said it was like a ping-pong match — every time they shocked me back to life, I would flatline again for about 30 to 40 seconds.”
He had to be brought back to life twice after arriving at the hospital, and he then underwent an emergency operation in which two stents were implanted. It was later revealed that Evan had a widowmaker heart attack.
What is a widowmaker heart attack?
The term “widowmaker heart attack” is used when the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, which supplies approximately half of the blood to the heart muscle, is completely blocked. Evan’s LAD was completely blocked, while another artery was 70% blocked, highlighting the seriousness of his disease.
Evan Wasserstrom’s odds of survival were slim; following surgery, he was placed in a medically induced coma and an ECMO machine that kept his heart functioning. Despite this, he made a spectacular recovery, exceeding all expectations.
