The morning of October 12, 2009, started normally for Lakewood couple JB and Emma Evans.
JB, 69, was sitting on the side of the bed, drinking the coffee Emma had just made for him, while she went into the bathroom. But when Emma emerged, just minutes later, JB was having a seizure. He was lying flat on his stomach, his head was shaking, and he was biting his tongue.
"It is not uncommon for someone to experience brief seizure-like activity when they lose consciousness from an arrhythmia or other cardiac cause," explains Renato Apolito, M.D., the interventional cardiologist on duty at Ocean Medical Center that morning. "This typically only last seconds and happens when blood suddenly ceases flowing to the brain due to a drop in blood pressure that occurs when the heart effectively stops pumping."
Emma acted quickly. She tried to get JB into a sitting position and called his name repeatedly. Her daughter, Ronisha, called 911, while her son-in-law, Joseph, helped Emma. The 911 emergency personnel told them to move JB to the floor. Emma and Joseph started CPR. "Even though JB never had any heart problems, I knew he was having a heart attack," says Emma. "I truly thought he had left me."
The local Lakewood police, ambulance, and emergency medical service (EMS) responders arrived within minutes and used a defibrillator to shock JB's heart back to a normal rhythm. JB was immediately transported to Ocean Medical Center, where Emma met Dr. Apolito in the emergency department (ED).
JB was placed on a ventilator and immediately transported to the cardiac catheterization lab for an emergency angioplasty. This opened up the blocked artery. Then a stent was placed to keep the artery open long term and restore blood flow to his heart. "Everything happened fast -- right in time," says Emma. "The entire time frame from the inital event at our home to the cath lab at Ocean was just under an hour."
"In essence, JB died that day, but because he got to us so quickly and because everyone -- from his wife who started CPR to the EMS workers and the ED staff -- did their part so well, he was able to survive this near-fatal event with essentially no damage to his heart," explains Dr. Apolito. "With medication, diet, exercise, and smoking cessation, he could live a normal and healthy life from here on out. Now that's a small miracle!"
Less than a month later, JB was back to enjoying retirement and spending time with his family.
About the Doctor
Renalto Apolito, M.D.
Board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Interventional Cardiology
Brick | 732-262-4262
