Teacher's Near-Death Experience Prompts Heart Health Education in Kansas School

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Teacher's Near-Death Experience Prompts Heart
Health Education in Kansas School
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A teacher's life-changing experience after
suffering from a cardiac arrest has led him to
raise awareness and educate his students about
the importance of heart health. Zach Nelson, a
teacher, was working late on Sunday night to
prepare for the upcoming week. He put his
five-year-old son to bed before returning to his
laptop to work on lesson plans. Zach grew tired
and nodded off occasionally until he suddenly
woke up in the intensive care unit after four
days, which made no sense to him. On January 22,
2017, Leah, Zach's wife, went to bed while
waiting for him. She heard a sound like coughing
and assumed it was their dog, Ike. When Zach
didn't respond, she stepped outside and found him
trembling and gasping in his recliner. Leah, who
was six months pregnant, ran for her phone,
called 911, and performed CPR on Zach when she
realized he wasn't breathing and his heart had
stopped.
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Assistance arrived quickly, but not from
paramedics. Two neighbors who heard the dispatch
call were a nurse and a volunteer firefighter.
Zach's heart was shocked back into a normal
rhythm, and he was taken to the hospital.
Physicians could not determine what was wrong
with his heart, so he received an implantable
cardioverter defibrillator, which would shock his
heart back into rhythm if necessary. Zach now
teaches gym at a primary school in Horton,
Kansas, and discusses heart health with his
students. He participates in the Kids Heart
Challenge of the American Heart Association and
educates his students about his ICD so they know
how to help if he or anyone else needs it.
Several parents told Zach that their children
knew what to do if his ICD went off after a news
report about him appeared on television.
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About 70 of cardiac arrests that occur outside
of hospitals happen in homes or residential
settings. Starting CPR as soon as possible by a
bystander can increase the likelihood of
surviving a cardiac arrest by twofold. Zach and
Leah received CPR training for their jobs, and
Leah emphasizes how vital it is for everyone to
learn this life-saving technique because it could
mean the difference between life and death for a
loved one.