Rejoicing after massive heart attack

By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW September 23, 2008 01:44 pm

— Lonnie Skaggs doesn’t remember the week of Aug. 3-9.
His doctor says having amnesia is a small price to pay after experiencing a massive heart attack on Aug. 3.
Skaggs was at church, praying at the altar, when it happened.
“I don’t remember even coming to church that day,” he said.
When Skaggs collapsed, his pastor, the Rev. Russell Janes, and fellow members of Tracy United Methodist Church, sprang into action to save his life.
“I had just gotten started in prayer and heard confusion and commotion and looked over and Sue, his wife, started hollering, ‘Lonnie, Lonnie, Lonnie.’ I looked over there and he was sprawled out on the floor,” Janes said.
Valerie England, a registered nurse who works in the nursery at T.J. Samson Community Hospital, began administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Janes and church member Bob Penrod joined in and together they administered CPR until firefighters with the Austin Tracy Volunteer Fire Department arrived.
“The rest of it was just God performing miracles,” Janes said.
England said she just automatically reacted to what was happening and that she didn’t take time to think what it was she needed to do. She admitted Skaggs’ condition was not good.
“It looked pretty bad,” she said. “We weren’t getting much response from him at all. I knew, being here, away from everything, it’s not like when you’re in a hospital setting ... you have no equipment. You just have your own hands, your own brain to work with. That was it. I knew we were his only chance. Us and God.”
Larry Bragg, chief of the Austin Tracy Volunteer Fire Department, was the first firefighter to arrive.
“I was praying in my woods when I got the call. I’m a volunteer and I carry my pager with me at all times,” he said. “I got the call to come here that someone had fainted.”
When Bragg arrived at the church, England, Janes and Penrod were still administering CPR.
“I started from there and called for an AED (automated external defibrillator) and started an airway and bagged him. After my truck got here, I put an AED on him and continued with CPR and then we shocked him.”
Bragg shocked Skaggs’ heart twice with the AED.
“We had a pulse about the time EMS got here. He progressed from there,” Bragg said. “We were just one little link in the chain that saved his life.”
Roy Howard and Eugene Costello with the Barren-Metcalfe Ambulance Service transported Skaggs to T.J. Samson Community Hospital.
Melissa Walton-Shirley, a cardiologist, began administering CPR to Skaggs when he arrived at the hospital emergency room.
“He had a totally blocked circumflex artery,” she said.
Walton-Shirley and Venkata Reddy, also a cardiologist, installed a temporary pacemaker in Skaggs’ chest, plus a balloon pump. Reddy also performed a heart catheterization to open the clogged artery.
Walton-Shirley said if Reddy had not been able to perform the heart catheterization on Skaggs, “I don’t think Lonnie would be with us today. I think the good Lord worked through all of us to try to help save his life.”
Skaggs also suffered from a condition that made it difficult for doctors to wean him from his ventilator. He was transferred to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville to receive treatment for the condition.
“Within two or three days, he was able to come off the ventilator,” she said.
After leaving Vanderbilt, Skaggs spent a week recuperating at Southern Kentucky Rehabilitation Hospital in Bowling Green.
Everyone who worked to resuscitate Skaggs wondered if he would suffer any adverse effects since it took 15 to 20 minutes to get him breathing again. The amnesia is the only lasting indication of what he’s been through.
“He has complete amnesia for the whole week,” Walton-Shirley said. “It’s interesting that is the only thing that he lacks. Some parts of that week will come back after a few months, but it is certainly not crucial for his recovery.”
Skaggs returned to church three weeks after his collapse. He recalls not feeling well the morning of the heart attack.
“I had a little bit of hurting in my arms,” he said.
Skaggs said he feels great now.
“I feel as good now as I ever did, but honestly, I get scared. Whenever I have heartburn ... I really get scared. Everybody wants to meet the Lord, but nobody wants to die to meet him.”

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