Last winter, the American woman collapsed after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. Her husband raised the alarm and immediately started CPR.
– My husband performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation for four minutes and the emergency operator guided him how to do it, he had never done it before.
When the paramedics arrived, she was first assessed as “clinical death“. But she would soon begin to show signs of life.
“Luckily, we live near a fire station and paramedics were on the scene after four minutes to take over with a defibrillator,” says Lauren Canaday.
Was in intensive care for nine days
She was then taken to the hospital where she was in intensive care for nine days.
– It took 24 minutes for the paramedics to revive me. After nine days in intensive care, I was declared ‘cognitively intact’ and have no visible brain damage.
When Lauren Canaday was admitted to the intensive care unit, she tested positive for covid, and medical staff suspect that the cardiac arrest occurred as a complication of the disease.
The awakening has been described as a “Lazarus syndrome” or auto-resuscitation. It can occur when a patient suddenly shows signs of life after cardiac arrest and termination of CPR. The unusual phenomenon means that the patient appears to be revived, even though they were never actually dead.
Between 1982 and 2016, there are 65 documented cases. 18 of those patients made a full recovery, according to the New York Post.
Suffered from depression
Lauren Canaday says she did not experience any near-death experiences. She was in a coma in the intensive care unit for two days and has no memory of the days before the cardiac arrest. The American says that she suffered from depression after the trauma, something that is common among those who have survived a cardiac arrest.
– Now I function much better, but I go to therapy every week, she says.
The miracle has led to several things changing for Canaday. She has new favorite dishes and her love for her husband has grown stronger.