在健身房的跑步机上，他的心脏停止了跳动. 他的妻子给他做了心肺复苏.

马克·万格林和他的妻子, 芭芭拉, 穿上运动服，开车去他们的奥斯汀, 德州, 周日早上去健身中心锻炼. 马克跳上了1号跑步机. 1. 芭芭拉爬上附近的划艇. 然后她改练举重.

在运行, Mark glanced at the digital board in the front of the room that tracked people's workout statistics. 他的心率为每分钟240次. 他认为这是一个技术故障，并继续前进.

不久之后，他倒下了.

“我们需要一名医生或护士!一个教练喊道.

芭芭拉第一个找到了马克. 他躺在设备旁边的地上. 他的脸变成了蓝精灵的蓝色.

A certified physical therapy assistant who's taken annual 心肺复苏 training for the last dozen years, 芭芭拉知道该怎么做.

"The tape started playing in my mind when I saw Mark on the floor," 芭芭拉 said. “知识就在眼前."

她问:“马克，马克. 你还好吗??没有得到回应, 她把他的头往后仰, 检查了他的呼吸道，给他做了几次人工呼吸. A doctor jumped off a nearby treadmill and began chest compressions, working with her in unison. The coach grabbed the center's automated external defibrillator, or AED. 然后, they shocked Mark's heart with the AED as they waited for emergency responders.

When paramedics arrived, they inserted a tube into Mark's trachea to keep his airway open. 芭芭拉呆在马克身边，体育教练们安慰她.

In the ER, doctors determined Mark had experienced a sudden cardiac arrest.

创伤导致他的器官开始衰竭. They put him in a medically induced coma and packed him in ice to cool his body and help save his failing organs.

当芭芭拉到达急诊室时，工作人员打电话给医院的神职人员. 马克是天主教徒，芭芭拉是犹太教徒. 他们把两个孩子培养成犹太人. 神职人员是穆斯林.

“他给了我很大的安慰，我非常感激他，”芭芭拉说. "I thought to myself, 'I'll pray to any god out there listening to me right now.'"

医生告诉芭芭拉，马克的预后很糟糕. If he survived, he would likely have significant mental and physical complications.

马克仍在重症监护室昏迷. He recalls strange dreams: He was thirsty but couldn't get a drink; riding in a car that wouldn't make turns.

"The theme of them all was, I couldn't do what I wanted to do," he said.

芭芭拉坐在他床边. She massaged his feet, washed his hair and played his favorite music – songs by Bruce Springsteen.

“你必须成为你所爱之人的拥护者，”她说.

马克于2021年4月崩溃. 他在昏迷中度过了61岁生日. 那天，芭芭拉重复播放了斯普林斯汀的《线上电子游戏飞禽走兽》. “惊喜，惊喜，来吧，睁开你的眼睛，”歌词唱道. Their daughter, Makala, who was 25 at the time, brought a birthday tiara for her dad.

他们用朋友和家人的照片装饰马克的房间, 包括马克的儿子, 本, 然后21, 当时谁不在学校. 这家人给了马克一只腊肠填充犬, 或者“假波”,“一个和波一模一样的娃娃, 家里的狗. "It was important for me to tell Mark's story for him while he wasn't able to," 芭芭拉 said.

在医院的第九天，马克醒了. His lips were chapped and he asked for ice cubes and oral mouth swabs soaked in water. “就像天堂一样，”他说.

Two days later, doctors put in his chest an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. The device will deliver shocks to his heart if it detects an irregular heartbeat. 两天后，马克离开了医院.

"I thought about my kids, how they were too young to lose their dad," 芭芭拉 said. "But Mark was in the right place at the right time with the right people."

从医院回家的路上, 芭芭拉 bought Mark a smartwatch – blue to match how she found him on the gym floor – to track his heart rate.

Mark started rehab, walking on a treadmill and around the block at home. 他工作很努力. He was motivated to get stronger and earn the rehab center's "Keeping the Beat Alive" T-shirt. 马克最终赢得了两件t恤.

芭芭拉说:“他目标明确，好胜心强。.

At home, Mark cuddled Bo in bed and gained back some of the weight he'd lost in the hospital. 然后, 离死亡还不到两个月, 他回到了他的政府通讯工作, 在家办公.

On the first anniversary of his cardiac arrest, he returned to the gym – and to treadmill No. 1.

“我在整个训练过程中没有遇到任何问题，”马克说. “我不会生活在对这种事情再次发生的恐惧中. The only thing I can control is how I approach it and what I can do to help prevent it."

现在, 在他心脏骤停近两年之后, 马克吃得更健康, 练习正念，并定期跟进他的医生. He's on blood pressure medication and while he can't let his heart rate climb too high, 他经常骑健身自行车.

作为一个戒酒14年的酒鬼, he's also applied lessons learned from recovery to his journey – asking for serenity and turning his will over to a higher power.

“我笑得更多了，主要是嘲笑自己，”马克补充道. “我在大多数事情中寻找一线希望、光明的一面和幽默."

He's taken a 心肺复苏 and AED class in the last year, and says everyone should. 他已经知道，并不总是需要人工呼吸. 徒手心肺复苏术同样有效.

“我能活下来，只是因为其他人知道该怎么做，”马克说.

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.

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