My story with the Heart & Stroke Foundation
For those who cannot see the link to the Healthy hearts and minds website, I have copied & pasted the article below:
RESTARTING ANNA’S HEART
AED SAVES 25-YEAR-OLD’S LIFE
Anna Shanh remembers nothing of her sudden cardiac arrest. The last memory she can recall is climbing into her car after work; the next, waking up three days later in a hospital bed with her fiancé, family and friends by her side.
Anna’s loved ones assembled the pieces of the puzzle for her. While working out on the elliptical machine at her local YMCA, she suddenly collapsed and hit her head on the floor. Staff sprang into action, performing CPR and administering shocks from a device called an automated external defibrillator (AED). The situation was critical: Anna was rushed to the hospital, put into an induced coma, and had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator implanted in
her chest.
her chest.
No one was more surprised at this turn of events than Anna, a trained nurse. At 25, she was young, fit and healthy. She ate well, exercised daily and avoided drugs and cigarettes – nothing put her at risk for sudden cardiac arrest. “The first thing everyone says to me is, ‘You’re so young’,” Anna says. “This can happen to anyone.”
Sudden cardiac arrest can strike anyone at any time, and in many cases, it occurs in public places.
But rapid access to an AED allows anyone to save a life like Anna’s — that’s why the Heart and Stroke Foundation is working to bring these devices across the country.
One year after her cardiac arrest, Anna is undergoing testing to determine if she has Long QT syndrome, a rare disorder of the heart’s electrical system. Otherwise, she is happy and healthy, newly married, and joining forces with the Heart and Stroke Foundation to advocate for heart health and public access to AEDs.
“I think it’s really important to have AEDs in the community,” she says. “If there wasn’t an AED at the YMCA, I don’t think I’d be here today. It can save a life.”
