This past June, 66-year-old retiree Gerald Reed was mowing his lawn at his home in Warrensburg when he collapsed.
"It was a warm day and I thought it was just dehydration or something," Reed said.
After resting and drinking some water, he finished mowing his lawn.
It wasn't until weeks later that Reed found out that what he thought was a fainting incident, was actually a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).
He owes his life to a small device called an ICD, or Implanted Cardiac Device, that he had implanted just months before. Reed had suffered a heart attack in 1995, but had put off the implant until last April.
An ICD acts as a built-in defibrillator that revives the heart should it have a sudden cardiac arrest, and even sends a transmission to a telephone to notify a nurse of an event.
On the day when Reed collapsed, his ICD had been triggered when he lost consciousness while mowing - he had gone into sudden cardiac arrest and the defibrillator in the device shocked his heart back to life; however, the transmitter was not yet enabled at the time so no one was alerted. When the phone adapter arrived in the mail a week later and the transmitter was turned on, it automatically notified a nurse, who soon after called and told his wife that the device had been activated when Reed passed out while mowing.
According to the Heart Rhythm Society, more than 250,000 deaths occur each year as a result of sudden cardiac arrest. In fact, SCA claims one life every two minutes, taking more lives each year than breast cancer, lung cancer or AIDS. Yet, according to a recent survey issued by the Heart Rhythm Society, more than 70 percent of Americans not only underestimate the seriousness of SCA, but also believe SCA is a type of heart attack. In fact, a heart attack blocks blood flow to the heart; SCA stops the heart. The difference is critical, and heart attack survivors face the highest risk of SCA.
The HRS recently launched a multi-year campaign to raise awareness about cardiac arrest and to differentiate it from a heart attack. To do this, the Heart Rhythm Society used the analogy of apples to oranges in its logo.
Gerald Reed's cardiologist, Dr. John "Jack" Layden, said that while certain factors put people at risk for SCA - such as cardiomyopathy, or weak heart muscle, and surviving an SCA as Reed had - some cardiac arrest victims have no symptoms, and Layden said most SCAs are fatal.
"Mr. Reed is not the only person who delayed (implanting an ICD) because of fear; fortunately, he decided to get it done in time. For most people, this is not the case," Layden said.
Layden said the American College of Cardiology (ACC) recently broadened its scope of people that should consider getting an ICD. He said the procedure is expensive but is now covered by Medicare because of ACC studies.
In retrospect, Reed said he was lucky.
"I said to myself, 'You big baby, you should have done this before.' I'm lucky my wife didn't come home to find me lying on the lawn," Reed said. "I had somebody looking over me that day."
Nine out of 10 heart disease patients, which includes risk of heart attack and/or SCA, have at least one risk factor, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Several medical conditions and lifestyle choices can cause a higher risk for heart disease, including:
If you have survived a heart attack or have a history of heart disease, contact your doctor about getting an Implanted Cardiac Device. For information and resources about sudden cardiac arrest, visit www.hrsonline.org.
Posted in Seniors on Sunday, November 1, 2009 12:00 am Updated: 11:54 am.
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