Updated 01.06 | Published 01.05
Lauren Canaday’s heart stopped for 24 minutes after complications from covid.
She was thought to be beyond saving.
– My first life ended and I woke up to my second, she says after the miraculous awakening.
The American collapsed at home last winter after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest.
Her husband called the emergency number and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
It was the beginning of a 24-minute nightmare – which, against all odds, ended happily.
Was clinically dead
But she received a death sentence before she could return to life.
The paramedics had time to assess Lauren as “clinically dead” before her heart suddenly started beating again, writes the New York Post.
– My husband performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation for four minutes and the emergency operator guided him how to do it, he had never done it before. Fortunately, we live near a fire station and paramedics were on the scene in four minutes to take over with a defibrillator,” said Lauren Canaday in a Reddit Q&A.
After showing signs of life, she was rushed to hospital where she received intensive care.
– After nine days in the intensive care unit, they were able to judge me to be “cognitively intact” and they could not see any visible heart damage on the X-ray.
Complications from covid
Lauren Canaday tested positive for covid when she was admitted to intensive care and medical staff believe she suffered a cardiac arrest following complications from the disease.
The awakening is called a “Lazarus syndrome” or auto-resuscitation.
It occurs when the patient suddenly shows signs of life after cardiac arrest and CPR has ended.
The rare phenomenon means that the patient appears to start living again, when in fact he was never dead.
What exactly lies behind the phenomenon has never been able to be determined. But the heart starts beating again without help after the resuscitation attempts are finished and starts pumping blood to the organs.
Got depressed
Between 1982 and 2016, there are 65 documented cases. 18 of these patients fully recovered, writes the New York Post.
Lauren Canaday states that she never had a near-death experience.
She was in a coma for two days in the intensive care unit, had long-term problems with short-term memory and remembers nothing from the days before the cardiac arrest.
However, Canaday suffered from depression caused by the trauma, something that is common among many cardiac arrest survivors. She has felt sadness, shame and confusion.
“Nowadays I’m functioning much better but I go to therapy every week and meet with a support group every month and I’m still not back at work,” says Lauren Canaday.
Got new favorite dishes
Other things have also changed after the miracle awakening. Among other things, she has acquired other favorite dishes and interests.
– It feels like my first life ended in February and I woke up to my second life, she says.
However, life with the husband has improved. She sees him as her hero after the cardiac arrest and the pair have become closer.
– It feels like there is a thin line between life and death and while I am grateful to have had more time with family and friends, death no longer worries me, says Lauren Canaday.
– I am much more worried about the pain you often experience in life.
Although the phenomenon of “Lazarus syndrome”, where the heart starts beating again after the end of treatment, is very rare, sudden cardiac arrest is much more common. Around 10,000 Swedes are affected outside hospital each year. Barely 1,000 of them survive.