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A man from Wisconsin, USA found that his wife had collapsed in their home just five weeks after giving birth to their son.
Luke Benrud recounted the experience of seeing his wife unconscious and bright purple in their kitchen. Benrud fortunately knew how to do CPR and called 911 while giving his wife chest compressions for seven minutes straight until her face regained its natural color. When the paramedics arrived, they shocked her twice to restart her heart.
After the wife was brought to the hospital, doctors put her in a drug-induced coma for three days. While she was comatose, the doctors placed her in a hypothermic state, dropping her body temperature to combat the negative effects of the cardiac arrest.
Later on, doctors diagnosed her with left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy / ˌkɑr di oʊ maɪˈɒp ə θi /, a condition in which the heart walls thicken, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood. This type of cardiomyopathy is difficult to diagnose and is one of many heart diseases that endanger mothers during childbirth.
Benrud said he shared this story because it was National Red Cross Month. He learned CPR from a Red Cross seminar, and he hoped that his story would inspire others to take up CPR classes as well.
An American lineman was also inspired to take CPR classes after being saved from drowning when he was two. Years later, while going out with his family, he spotted a stranger lying on his back gasping. The lineman saved the stranger by immediately performing CPR on him.
An accountant also saved a coworker’s life less than 24 hours after she had learned CPR. She learned it from the CPR program in their district, which was conducted on street corners and in neighborhood festivals and offices.