Positivity: Alive and kickin’: Team saves man from ‘cardiac death’

From Maryville, Tennessee’s newspaper, about an area resident whose life was saved in Louisville:

Article published Sep 3, 2007

By all accounts, John Bates should be dead.

He and his wife of 23 years, Janice Sullivan, were in Louisville, Ky. in June to compete in tennis in the National Senior Games. The couple had placed second at the state level, qualifying them for the national competition.

They were at the University of Louisville tennis courts when Bates collapsed with a heart attack. By the time Sullivan got to him, he was lifeless, not breathing and unconscious.

Nearby was a doctor there to watch a friend play tennis, who was also a doctor. One of them saw Bates go down and knew he hadn’t just tripped. The two physicians raced to Bates’ aid and began administering CPR.

Meanwhile, Sullivan was calling out for help and caught the attention of some EMS personnel. They arrived and shocked Bates’ heart several times before loading him into an ambulance for transport to the hospital. Bates’ heart was shocked additional times while en route.

Once at the hospital, Bates was taken to the emergency room at Norton Audubon Hospital where he was placed on a ventilator. He would remain unconscious for 24 hours.

The main concern at that point was the possibility of brain damage. But when Bates woke up, despite having no idea where he was and why, there was none.Right place, right time
Bates said his ordeal was a miracle on several levels.

“Part of the miracle of the event was that anybody was there,” Bates said via telephone from his home in Townsend. “The city of Louisville had planned to have EMS personnel at every site for the Senior Games but this was a practice day. They just happened to have a crew out and that crew just happened to be where we were.”

The other fortunate thing was of course the presence of two doctors who were able to shock Bates’ heart with an automated external defibrillator (AED). Sullivan having the presence of mind not to panic was the glue that held this all together. She has earned hero status in her husband’s eyes.

A cardiologist at the hospital in Louisville implanted an automated internal defibrillator in Bates’ chest before he was allowed to come home. It will continue to monitor his heart rate and apply a shock should ne need it.

Bates, 62, is the former director of the Blount Memorial Wellness Center in Alcoa. He took early retirement a few years ago and then went to work at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge in their finance department. Working at the Wellness Center, he was always in great shape and said a test in the hospital after his collapse revealed his coronary arteries were fine.

His diagnosis was a heart arrhythmia, meaning his heartbeat gets out of whack, preventing oxygen from getting to the brain. It’s an electrical problem, Bates said.

Once Bates got home from Louisville he began seeing a cardiologist who he continues to see every six months. A monitor is placed on his chest to check on the implanted defibrillator. …..

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