Heart attack victim’s wife’s lucky day
OTTAWA – Doctors told Susan Brayshaw to buy a lottery ticket on Saturday because her husband may be the luckiest man alive.
She did just that — winning $5 back on the scratch card and even getting a free coffee with her Tim Hortons cup.
But in the end, Susan said she won the real jackpot.
“Of course, I got the best prize of all. My husband’s alive,” she said.
The outcome could have been very different. When Jon collapsed from his bike in cardiac arrest near Wellington and Bay streets.
Susan doesn’t know how to do CPR and that’s when a group of “angels” came to the rescue, she said.
Three doctors biking behind the couple — including a cardiologist — gave him CPR until a public transit officer arrived and was able to shock his heart with a defibrillator.
“They just took over,” Susan said. “They all worked together, each of them had a job to do. It was almost like it had been rehearsed. It was like it was meant to be.”
Now Susan is on a mission to reunite with the people she credits for saving her husband’s life.
“I can say thank you, but what does that mean?” she said. “I’d give them a big hug and I’d be indebted to them forever.”
“The many doctors at the hospital today tell me he is with us today due to the quick work and actions of the first people to lay hands on him, and the paramedics,” she said.
Jon was brought to the Civic hospital in critical condition, but within a few hours he was alert and talking, and remembered everything that happened up until the moment he fell from his bike.
Doctors told Susan a tiny rupture in one of his arteries caused the heart attack. He’s had a stent put in to brace the artery and he’ll make a full recovery.
The couple are avid bikers, having put in 1,600 km on the trails last year alone. Susan hopes they can get back to their passion soon.
While Jon is still very sore and may have a few fractured ribs from the CPR, he’s able to sit up and talk to his family.
He was even able to watch the Sens hockey game from the intensive care unit Saturday night.
But it’s not something she ever wants to live through again.
“It was beyond horrific having to watch them work on him so intensely and for so long,” said Susan. “They were trying so hard for a pulse. But they never gave up.”
Jon and Susan plan to meet the transit officer on Monday and hope the three doctors step forward too.
Twitter: @ottawasunmaubry
