CPR | 4 heart attacks, 5-way bypass, 35 stents - and that's only part of this survivor's story

1
CPR 4 heart attacks, 5-way bypass, 35 stents -
and that's only part of this survivor's story
2
Justin Faloon has had four heart attacks. Hes
endured a quintuple bypass. Hes received an
extraordinarily high number of stents 35. Yet
perhaps the best part of his story doesnt
involve the care hes received. Its about the
lives hes saved. Justins tale dates to the
first day of June in 1999, when he was 29 and
working as the security manager of a hospital in
Bangor, Maine. He woke up one morning with all
the classic symptoms of a heart attack chest
pain, pain in his left arm, nausea, profuse
sweating and even grey skin. He tried telling
himself it was just the flu, but he was soon
calling 9-1-1. He was transported to the hospital
where he worked by paramedics that he knew.
3
A few days later, while still at the hospital,
Justin had another heart attack. He then went to
another hospital, where he received his first
stent, a mesh-like tube that props open a blocked
artery. A smoker with a strong family history of
heart disease, Justin knew he needed to change
his lifestyle. He cut out foods high in fat and
sugar, exercised more and tried to quit smoking.
A few years later, Justin was working in law
enforcement in Colorado when he noticed he was
easily getting fatigued and short of breath.
Doctors placed two more stents. Then a cardiac
catheterization procedure showed that he had so
much plaque build-up that he needed a quintuple
bypass.
4
That excruciating procedure was in 2004. In 2008,
his doctors advised him to find less stressful
work, so he moved back to Maine and worked in a
canoe factory. That also proved to be too
strenuous, so he took a job as lead surveillance
agent at a local casino, a role that allowed him
to remain seated. Along the way, Justins stent
total continued to rise. He received stents in
his coronary arteries and within grafted vessels,
stents within stents and at least one full metal
jacket, where the entire artery is lined with
stents. It was a downhill slope at that point,
Justin said. In 2011, Justin suffered a heart
attack and another six months later. That did
it his doctor said Justin could no longer work.
5
While Justin knew it was probably best for his
health, leaving the work force at age 44 was a
psychological blow. Except for recovery times,
Id only been out of work for three weeks in my
entire life, Justin said. I was an emotional
wreck. And soon, a financial wreck. I went
from having a savings account to having no
money, said Justin, who also has given up his
kayaking, hiking, hunting and fishing. I lost
everything. His world turned upside down,
Justin needed about nine months to find a new
semblance of order. One way he decided to fill
his time was by volunteering with a local search
and rescue organization. Another way was
volunteering with the American Heart Association.
6
Justin who turned 47 on Thursday enjoys
sharing his story on behalf of the AHA, helping
raise awareness about heart health and the
importance of funding heart research.
Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of
death in the United States, and the AHA is the
nations oldest, largest voluntary organization
devoted to fighting cardiovascular diseases and
stroke. The AHA funds more cardiovascular
research than any organization outside the
federal government, having invested in excess of
3.7 billion, including more than 100 million
annually since 1996. The organization has funded
research by 13 Nobel Prize winners and has been
part of many lifesaving advancements such as the
first artificial heart valve, cholesterol-inhibiti
ng drugs, heart transplantation, and CPR
techniques and guidelines.
7
I dont have a lot of money to contribute, but I
wanted to give something back to AHA because
theyd given so much to me, said Justin, who in
February spoke as the Heart Hero at the
Northeastern Maine Heart Ball. I dont like
attention, but if my story can help raise money
for research, Im happy to share it. Justin
used to be afraid to share details with people,
partly out of embarrassment. He especially
avoided talking about the number of stents he's
received because of the shock value. Now he
realizes the importance of sharing his story
and including that shocking statistic as a
powerful element of his story.
8
He even delivers it with a bit of humor When his
tally was in the 20s, he joked about going for
the world record - which, according to the
Guinness Book of World Records, is 34. After
receiving his 35th, he told his doctor, "I was
just joking!" (He's looked into the paperwork to
claim the record, but opted not to bother.) In
addition to spreading awareness, Justin refreshed
his credentials as a CPR instructor. He now
trains others to be potential lifesavers. Hes
even used the skills himself. On Thanksgiving
2013, Justin revived an unconscious man believed
to be experiencing a drug overdose.
9
At the Heart Ball in February, Justin shared more
stories of lives hes impacted. Many years ago,
in what I jokingly call another life, I saved a
3-year-old from being hit by a bus, he said. A
few years after that, I saved a woman who was
unconscious in a burning building. Could
someone else have run out in a major four-lane
street to save that little girl? No, I was the
only one close enough to have done something.
Could someone have gone into that burning
building to pull that lady out? No, I was the
only one other than her son who had already
been overcome by smoke to go in.
10
Bear in mind, that this all happened after my
bypass surgery. Learn more about CPR.
Bergenfield, NJ Jersey City, NJ Livingston,
NJ Queens, New York, Gainesville, FL, Milford, CT
Long Island, NY Source https//www.heart.org