Our Survivor - Jenny Mhire
Jenny and Jeremy Mhire were traveling on I-44 with their eight-week-old son when the unthinkable happened. While passing a semi, the truck veered into their lane and narrowly missed the family’s car. Jenny sat forward, gasped for air, and slumped over.
Jeremy, who had been trained in CPR, reacted immediately. On the shoulder of the interstate, he checked for breath and a pulse. Jenny had neither, so Jeremy began CPR. A couple stopped, called 9-1-1, and a responding highway patrol officer used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to provide a lifesaving shock that reset Jenny’s heart. Paramedics continued treatment en route to the hospital.
Only a few days later, in the hospital waiting for a diagnosis, Jenny experienced another cardiac arrest. A medical team reset Jenny’s heart again. An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) was surgically placed to prevent another emergency. Jenny was diagnosed with Long Q-T Syndrome, a rare arrhythmia that occurs infrequently, most often impacting children and young adults.
Nearly 360,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States each year and approximately 95% of those impacted do not survive. Jenny remarkably survived twice. From the development of CPR, the AED and the ICD to the expert medical training that made her treatment possible, the American Heart Association’s impact can be seen at every step of Jenny’s journey.
