Life after Death

Using a new device, paramedics bring a Sandy man back to life after a heart attack

By Jim Hart

The Sandy Post, Jul 21, 2009

On the 103rd anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake (April 18), Belus (Bay-lou-shh) Schonek, 52, of Sandy had his own “earthquake.”

In fact, at almost the exact time of day of the 1906 temblor, Belus died.

To tell the story of what he describes as being “born again” after spending 45 minutes in limbo without a heartbeat or breath and 2-1/2 days unconscious in the hospital, we first must take a close look at what was happening before, during and after the incident.

The attack

Belus was awakened from his sleep in the early morning hours that April day, about 4 a.m. He couldn’t go back to sleep, so he went to a chair in the living room. Juanita, his wife of 32 years, discovered he wasn’t in bed and went to the living room to ask what was wrong.

“I think I’m having a heart attack,” he told her. “It feels like someone is sitting on my chest.”

“Should I call the hospital or ambulance?” she asked him.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

Once inside the bathroom, Belus slumped and fell unconscious. Juanita heard the noise, checked on him and ran to another room to call for help.

Returning to the bathroom with a wireless phone, she noticed he had fallen between the toilet and the bathtub. Even though she felt panicky, she needed more strength to pull her 185-pound husband out of that small space.

“You know you get that adrenalin-rush thing?” she said. “Well, it didn’t work for me.”

For the eight minutes it took emergency medical personnel to arrive at the scene, Belus stayed in that awkward position – unconscious and unable to move.

There was some shallow breathing for a minute or two, Juanita said, but that soon stopped along with his heartbeat. Due to his awkward position, she could not start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

While Juanita talked with a 9-1-1 dispatcher, who was trying to help her stay calm, she watched helplessly as her husband died and the color left his face.

“I kept telling (the dispatcher), ‘Tell the ambulance driver to hurry up; tell them to hurry up and get here,’ ” she said quickly. “This was like a bad dream; it was unreal. I was so scared.”

Attempting ‘rebirth’

When American Medical Response Paramedic Dave Ewen arrived at the Schonek residence, he and his partner lifted Belus out of the bathroom and placed him on his back in the bedroom.

They quickly began CPR hand compressions, while the rest of the emergency team of Sandy firefighters and paramedics started the protocol they know so well.

EMT Intermediate David Silvia, volunteer firefighter for 12 years, started and maintained an IV.

EMT Basic Nathan Jaqua placed a tube into Belus’ throat and sent life-giving oxygen into his lungs.

EMT Paramedic, RN, Gary McLean prepared medications and helped Ewen with CPR.

But this time, CPR was taken over by a ZOLL AutoPulse non-invasive cardiac support pump, a new device the firefighters brought with them.

Belus was placed quickly on the CPR board, and the wide belt tightened across his chest. From that point on, McLean says, the board does all the work, freeing paramedics to do other tasks.

EMT First Responder Jon Turcotte, a Sandy volunteer, says the scene is much less chaotic, more organized, when the board is doing all the CPR work.

Then they focused on the heart’s irregular fibrillation, shocking Belus with a defibrillator about eight times during the 45 minutes he was legally dead.

Meanwhile, a still-panicky Juanita was standing in the hallway outside the bedroom, McLean said. She had her hands clenched; she was crying; and she felt helpless.

“I was doing a lot of praying,” Juanita said. “I was thinking: This can’t be happening. This can’t be real. How could it happen; he’s not that old. A lot of things were going through my mind, you know, this can’t be real. It was scary.”

After the ZOLL AutoPulse was activated, McLean stayed in the hallway to help calm Juanita before Chaplain Dennis Simons arrived at the home.

An anxious three days

Then, still praying, she followed the ambulance to the hospital, where the doctors gave her the upsetting prognosis that on average only 5 percent of cardiac arrest patients survive.

During the ambulance driver’s race to the hospital, Jaqua stayed with his patient, who was still receiving CPR because there still was no heartbeat.

“We were doing CPR (with the AutoPulse) and shocking him all the way to the hospital,” Jaqua said. “And when the first battery ran out, and we were about to change batteries, we noticed that he was just beginning to get a regular heartbeat.”

In the hospital, doctors discovered a major artery of Belus’ heart was completely blocked. A clot was being held inside the thickened and inflexible walls of the artery.

Juanita says she was told he had a 5 percent chance to live, but they would attempt to open the artery and place a stent inside to keep it open.

After the stent had been placed, Belus’ body was chilled to retain the life-giving blood near the vital organs for about 24 hours, then another 24 hours to slowly warm up to normal body temperature.

When Belus awakened, it was Monday. Doctors were amazed and thankful: Everything seemed normal, and he apparently hasn’t suffered any damage to any of his vital organs.

Outside of a few pills, Belus resumed his life and his outdoor job. Progressively, his heart is gaining strength as he adds more activity to each day’s itinerary.

“The doctor called me the ‘miracle man,’ ” Belus said.

But his rebirth comes with a price tag.

Several facets of his lifestyle needed a complete reversal. The root cause of his heart attack must be removed from his life.

He has stopped satisfying his addiction to the nicotine in one or two packs of cigarettes a day (since he was a teenager). And with Juanita’s help, he has changed his diet: no more high-calorie, high-sodium fast food and no more fatty foods.

“The doctor said either stop smoking or die,” Belus said. “Apparently nicotine and salt thicken the arteries. He said I was lucky the first time, but probably there isn’t a (lucky) second time.”

Nowadays, Belus is physically active, practices his meditation, eats lots of fresh foods, avoids salt completely, doesn’t smoke and continues a regimen of medications to keep his blood flowing normally.

Born again: the sequel

Anyone who walks into the Schoneks’ home in Sandy will notice on the wall near the door three words that describe the couple’s lifestyle:

Laugh.

Love.

Live.

For a while, that last word almost escaped Belus, but now he embraces all three with enthusiasm.

And tonight, Wednesday, July 22, Belus will visit the Sandy Fire Department for the first time to meet the men who saved his life.

“I’m thankful that I’m born again,” he said. “I know that CPR board doesn’t save everyone, but I’d like to go to the fire department and say: ‘Hey, all that hard work you guys did actually paid off. This is me.”