'A guardian angel': McLaren nurse's quick actions save stranger's life during heart attack
CHARLEVOIX — A McLaren Northern Michigan nurse was in the right place at the right time this summer to save a man's life after he suffered a heart attack in public.
The chances of surviving a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital are 6 percent, according to Northern Michigan McLaren Hospital spokesman Dave Jones.
Unless, that is, you happen to have an experienced cardiac nurse driving by and notice your distress at the exact moment your heart stops beating.
That is what happened to Richard Mayer, a 73-year-old Indiana native who was running in the Charlevoix Marathon on June 17.
Having participated in countless previous marathons, the last thing on Mayer’s mind that day was dying.
“I didn’t think I had any major issues, but in retrospect there were some signs and I should have taken care of it,” said Mayer. “I thought I was indestructible. But it turns out I’m not.”
As Mayer rounded the final corner toward the race’s finish line on June 17, he suddenly fell to the ground without a pulse. He doesn’t remember much after that.
Thankfully, Heather Lewis, who has over two decades of experience as a Registered Cardiovascular Nurse at McLaren Northern Michigan hospital in Petoskey, remembers it all.
Lewis, 42, had finished a heat of the race earlier that day and was driving her car down Bridge Street at the time Mayer collapsed.
“There are so many events that led up to me being at the right place at the right time, I am still trying to wrap my head around it,” said Lewis. “I wasn’t even supposed to run the race that day and I had even taken the wrong road.”
Being a cardiac nurse, Lewis had saved lives before. But out on the street, without any help, it was a different experience.
“I work in the hospital and I see people die all the time, but this was completely different,” she said.
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Mayer lay without a heartbeat for more than five minutes as Lewis and then an accompanying team from the Charlevoix Police Department worked to revive him.
“I just remember looking at him and thinking, ‘There is no way that you are going to die on this street,’" said Lewis.
In most ER rooms, the professionals rotate after two minutes of CPR, but Lewis didn't rotate in this case.
“I’ve been a cardiac nurse for 22 years. This is what I’m trained to do,” she said. “My adrenaline was going and I knew it was up to me.”
Help arrived with a defibrillator, and by the time EMS arrived they could feel a faint pulse coming from Mayer.
He was taken to McLaren Northern Michigan and stayed there for six weeks after having major heart surgery.
Lewis visited him regularly during his stay, and the two have now forged a strong connection.
“He is amazing. It is hard to describe the moment when I first met him,” Lewis said.
“I feel like everything happens for a reason, even though in some people’s hardest moments that’s the last thing they want to hear,” she added. "You have to live every day to the fullest because it literally takes a second for someone to lose their life. This is a guy who was healthy and had run a marathon four weeks prior. He ended up dead at the end of this one. You can’t take for granted anything. You have to live every moment to the best of your ability."
Mayer said that “Without Heather I wouldn’t be here. I would be gone.“
"So, if you have a problem, get it checked out," he urged. "Because I almost died in an instant.”
During his hospital stay, the Charlevoix Marathon organizers were able to arrange for Mayer to receive his marathon participation medal. They presented it to him in person.
Three weeks after his heart surgery, Mayer was back to his part-time position as an assistant public defense attorney in Cedar Lake, Indiana. He has plans to do another marathon, although his wife, Stacey, isn’t too keen on the idea.
He has already booked hotel reservations for next year’s Charlevoix Marathon.
— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231)675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com. Follow her on Twitter, @adoylenews
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: McLaren nurse's quick actions save stranger's life during heart attack
