90% of people don't survive, but a local man did

October is Sudden Cardiac Awareness Month. According to the American Red Cross, 70% of all cardiac arrests happen in the home, which is why CPR and AED training is important. You could be saving a family member or friend.

“We have a saying in cardiology, that time is muscle,” said Senior Attending Physician and Interventional Cardiologist at University Hospitals Portage Medical Center Dr. Myttle Mayuga. “If somebody is having either a heart attack or a cardiac arrest, time is of the essence.”

Heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest are two different medical emergencies. “A heart attack happens when blood flow to the heart is blocked. A cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating,” according to the American Heart Association.

“Heart attacks can sometimes cause cardiac arrest, but not all cardiac arrests are caused by heart attacks,” said Mayuga. “These days we’re seeing heart attacks and even cardiac arrest happen in younger and younger people.”

Korey Loughry was 51 when he experienced cardiac arrest in November 2022.

He was on his way from work when he felt pain that he dismissed as indigestion.

“It wasn’t until I got home and on the way home did I begin to wonder if It might be a heart attack,” he said. “I texted my family in our family chat group, the ‘I love you’ emoji thinking that this may be the last communication I could have with my family.”

When I asked what was going through his mind at the time, knowing this could be his last moment, Loughry said he relied on his faith.

“As a Christian I’m comfortable with the idea that I will die and that will not be the end, “he said. “I have that hope and yet at the same time, there’s the real tension of, I still want to see my family longer.”

After he got home, Loughry checked his blood pressure and searched his symptoms on the internet. He realized he was having a heart attack.

“The pain in my chest was definitely, at this point, raging,” he said.

He called 911, and rescue crews took him to the hospital.

“Halfway there I remember looking out the back window and kind of spotting where I was at and then I was gone, I came back with this very odd feeling of euphoria.”

Loughry went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance and then again as he was wheeled into the doors of the ER.

“The next memories I have was of this flurry of activity of men and women trying to attach me to things, communicating things to me, wheeling me to what I would later find out was called the cath Lab,” he said.

While he was in that lab to get the blockage removed, he would go into cardiac arrest two more times. Mayuga led the UH Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute Portage Medical Center team working to save Loughry. She thought they were going to lose him.

“To know that we made a difference in not just one person's life, but now that he's such an advocate for heart health and in the community, I think he will touch many other people's lives to come,” she said.

Statistics show 90% of people who suffer cardiac arrest do not survive.

“The likelihood of survival without outside intervention and immediate outside intervention, as I understand, it is death; it’s sometimes referred to as clinical death to experience cardiac arrest,” said Loughry. “I'm certainly here because of them and I certainly see the Lord's provision in all of it as well.”

The now 53-year-old has written a book about his experience titled “I Was Arrested.” It’s in the hospital’s bookstore and on Amazon. He’s grateful for everyone who helped save his life that day.

The husband and father of two adult children has lost 40 pounds, eats healthier and exercises more, and he also works at the heart institute as a practice lead.

“That involves serving and supporting the team that supports the cardiologists here at UH Portage,” he said.

“The biggest message I would want to give to most people is to take those symptoms that you're feeling seriously, to not ignore them, to not excuse them away but take them seriously.”

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