LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women and while factors like diabetes, obesity, excessive drinking, and an unhealthy lifestyle can people at higher risk. No one is immune.
WHAS11's Taylor Woods spoke with two athletes who went into cardiac arrest while competing and had their lives saves by emergency responders.
Carly Fonda is 16 years old and stays active through sports like volleyball and basketball.
“Heart problems do not discriminate and so obviously I did not know at my age that something was wrong with my heart,” Fonda said.
She was born with a heart defect known as AAOCA, a rare heart condition, affecting about 1 to 5 of every one thousand people.
Fonda experienced cardiac arrest 5 years ago on the basketball court and she shared the frantic moments leading up to her collapse.
She said, “I went to go grab my water and everything started spinning and I was like what the heck is happening and it all started spinning and everything went black and that was the last thing I remember before I woke up."
When she woke up she was surrounded by medical personnel, using an AED on her. That's an "automatic external defibrillator," meant to shock a heartbeat back into rhythm.
She said this is the miracle that brought her back to life. Fonda was required to have open heart surgery, where they deroofed her coronary artery, that was routed the wrong way.
“So I went to the hospital on January 6th and my open heart surgery was on January 12th.”
She had six months of recovery and couldn't play sports until a year later but Fonda is doing much better now, and she even played in a sectional game Thursday night.
In fact, cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, at any time. It happened to David Foy, while he was running in the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon four years ago.
"I collapsed in full cardiac arrest right at the finish line,” Foy said.
He said it was an off duty nurse who stepped in to perform CPR before medical personnel arrived and took over. He can still remember the devastating moments leading up to his collapse.
“Something doesn't feel right and the next thing I know I hit the ground and that was it next thing I know after that I was laying on the ground looking up at 10 to 12 people standing over me," Foy said.
Foy coded for more than two minutes and said medical staff were impressed he was even aware of his surroundings. He went on to have an open heart surgery, where he had an aortic valve replacement.
“I feel just incredibly lucky and blessed it was a miracle I still keep in touch with the nurse who first got to me and gave me CPR,” Foy said.
He still runs and is consistent with 6 month checkups with his doctor.
Since he has a mechanical heart valve, he's still active and is set to run other marathons this year.
He is also encouraging everyone to learn CPR.
To find online courses and community programs, click here.
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