Angela’s Angle: CPR saves lives and Gunner is proof

I recently had to perform CPR on my husband, Gunner. No formal training, no Red Cross course, just a blind determination to save his life with whatever skill I possessed from watching countless hours of Chicago Med.

On Feb.19, Gunner collapsed in our home, in cardiac arrest, as I would later learn. Thank goodness I was not alone and my friend, Tricia, immediately jumped into action and started chest compressions as I talked to the 9-1-1 operator. Without Tricia’s fast action, I would have stood frozen in terror. Tricia knew what to do.

I took over chest compressions from Tricia when the 9-1-1 operator told us to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. How long we performed CPR I will never know. I stopped when the EMS unit took over. They brought Gunner back at least three more times from cardiac arrest in what seemed a lifetime and transported him to UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central.

On a side note, Tricia’s 16-year-old son Joey was the true hero of the day. He got in the ambulance and put on the parking brake when he realized the vehicle was sliding down our icy street. I will never be able to thank him enough for this one heroic act. Gunner would not be alive today without the ambulance to transport him to the hospital.

But back to CPR – learn it, do it, save a life. It is a simple message and I have become a walking PSA for CPR. I scheduled my class with the American Red Cross – Colorado Springs on April 17th.  CPR is not difficult to master, but an invaluable tool in your first aid toolbox.

I never thought I would perform CPR, let alone on my husband. Today, Gunner is home with a new Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD) to monitor his heart. He is one of the lucky ones, who beat the odds. People who experience cardiac arrest have a 12 percent chance of surviving – that survival rate doubles or even triples if CPR is started.

CPR saves lives and Gunner is proof.

The Maverick Observer, or “The Moe” as we affectionately call it, is an online free-thinking publication interested in the happenings in our town. We launched in February 2020 to hold our politicians and businesses accountable. We hope to educate, inform, entertain, and infuse you with a sense of community.