Wife’s medical miracle helps husband survive heart attack
Published: July 10, 2008
The fact that John Seville can tell this story is incredible.
“Once I found out I did die, it was extremely terrifying,” the 41-year-old New Jersey police officer said.
Seville was in his garden three months ago when he felt something terribly wrong.
“My legs felt cold. It felt like I had snow blindness,” he said.
Minutes after arriving at this hospital, Seville went into cardiac arrest; he flat-lined, no heartbeat.
“At that particular point in time, he’s dead. The question is: Is he going to remain dead,” Morristown Memorial Hospital Heart Dr. James Slater said. “He’s fallen off the cliff. We reach, we grab, we pull him back.”
Injecting medications started Seville’s heart again. However, doctors discovered another emergency: A deadly tear in his aorta, the major blood vessel in the body. A five-and-a-half hour operation repaired that blood vessel, but by now, many of his organs were failing, including his brain.
Three days after the surgery, the patient was only minimally conscious, paralyzed on his left side and making a little progress.
“He was on a ventilator, and I was afraid he would never be off of it,” Seville’s wife, Connie, said.
That’s when Connie 40 weeks pregnant with their second child went into labor. In that very same hospital, two floors down Levi Seville was born. Within hours, Connie decided this baby might hold the key to her husband’s recovery.
“The nursery brought the baby down with Connie and held him up to his face,” nurse Vicky Dunn said. “And he just cracked the biggest smile on his face. The unit got quiet, and then you just heard people crying. It was a beautiful sight. Then we just knew: He’s gonna make it.”
For the next several weeks, John’s recovery amazed even his doctors. Day by day, he gained strength and lost most of the paralysis.
Finally, it was time to head home. With a “thank you” to his doctors and nurses the Sevilles were soon back together again.
“Just to be able to come home and hug them, and just say ‘I love you,’” John said. “For a while there, you never know if you’re going to have that opportunity. It ’s incredible.”
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