At 28, My Heart Attack Came Without Warning And Changed Everything

"A security guard began CPR about ten minutes after my seizure, and less than ten minutes later, a team of seven firefighters arrived with oxygen and a defibrillator. When New York City firefighters perform CPR, it is forceful and exacting. They fed me oxygen while performing chest compressions so hard it looked as if their hands might go straight through my chest and into the floor. When that wasn't enough, they used the defibrillator. They quite literally brought me back to life."

"The firefighters came as fast as they could, but, in New York City traffic, it took them around 15 minutes. Diana would later chew them out for taking so long. Jon told me later that he briefly considered saying, "Hot firefighters are saving your life," because surely that would have been enough to wake me just to see the show. Later, my colleagues would get together and take a course in CPR. I have a great team of coworkers."

I had recently returned from travel, feeling good after a work trip and career achievement. I experienced a seizure and sudden cardiac arrest and do not remember landing at JFK or the subsequent days. A security guard began CPR about ten minutes after the seizure, and a team of firefighters arrived shortly after with oxygen and a defibrillator, performing forceful chest compressions and using the defibrillator to revive me. I was taken by ambulance to a nearby ER and then transferred to a hospital on the Upper East Side. Family and colleagues coordinated; Diana stayed with me until midnight. I was sedated, intubated, and unconscious in the ICU for the first half-day.

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